On Sonorous Seas

A new multi-media based exhibition by

Mhairi Killin

September 18-October 17, 2025

Opening Reception:

Thursday, September 18, 6-8pm

Burren College of Art Gallery

Gallery Hours: Mon-Fri, 9:30am-5:00pm

[email protected]

+353 657077200

https://www.burrencollege.ie/on-sonorous-seas/

The installation – which mixes artifacts, video, poetry and soundscape alongside a series of podcasts – is inspired by the complex relationship between the militarisation of Scotland’s waters and its existing ecosystem.

In 2018, over 45 badly decomposed Cuvier’s Beaked whales washed up on the shores of several Hebridean islands, including Mhairi’s home of Iona. At the same time, another 23 whales were stranded on the West coast of Ireland, and scientists have been investigating this ‘unique mortality event’ in relation to the increased presence of military sonar activity in the area around Porcupine Bank, as confirmed by the Royal Navy in September 2021.

In May 2021 Mhairi spent eleven days at sea with the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust aboard their research vessel Silurian, during the NATO military exercise Joint Warrior: the largest tactically focused exercise in Europe.

During the journey – which ranged from The Sea of Hebrides up to Cape Wrath and involved grueling ten hour work days – Mhairi and HWDT scientist, Becky Dudley collected sound and visual data using hydrophones and computer software. The result of this research is a series of new artworks that interrogate the power and reliance on sound as a survival tool and the impact of the legacy of military colonisation of vast areas of land in the Hebrides on the natural and cultural ecologies of the islands.

On Sonorous Seas will transform the gallery at Burren College into an immersive experience of sound, artefacts and video. In addition to visuals created by Mhairi, and CGI designer Tom deMajo from Biome Collective, the installation will feature a new soundwork commissioned from Glasgow based musician, Fergus Hall. Composed almost entirely from hydrophone recordings of orca calls, dolphin clicks and whistles, magnified sonar and boat engines made during the research trip on the Silurian, and across 6 movements, the soundwork also features vocals from Scottish Opera mezzo soprano Lea Shaw.

Dutch-born and Mull-based poet and artist Miek Zwamborn has written a new poem as an elegy and requiem for the whales, with calligraphy by artist Susie Leiper on loose leaf papers imprinted with impression of whale bones gathered during the stranding event.

Mhairi says:
“By transforming how we tell the narrative of the 2018 mass standing of 118 beaked whales – a narrative embedded in the overlay of two cryptic environments, the habitats of the military and the habitats of the whales – through a partnership of science, music and art, we transform how we observe this story, and perhaps in doing so we can tell reality differently and bring an audience towards the complexity of this issue.”

On Sonorous Seas is funded by An Tobar and Mull Theatre, AN Bursaries, VACMA Award/Creative Scotland, CHArts and The Space CIC with support from Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust, Scottish Assoc for Marine Science, National Museums Scotland, Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme, and the Arts Office at Clare County Council.

The Burren Annual Exhibition brings Irish and international artists working with diverse modes of practice to the Burren to engage local and visiting audiences.  Inaugurated in 2004 it foregrounds Burren College of Art as a site for discourse and artistic engagement and prioritises the rural as a hub for building local and international creative networks.