Manuela
Martines

“I am an Italian artist active in the art world for more than 30 years. Over the past few years I have been creating video and sound installations in nature using an electronic device that turns the electromagnetic field of plants into melodies. Thus I promote the knowledge of the plant world sensitivity and the awareness of the possibility of communication between human beings and nature.

“The public experiences a beneficial union with the spirits of nature because everything is connected in a sensitive game of alliances.”

—Manuela Martines @martines_manuela

"Sono un’artista italiana attiva nel mondo dell’arte da più di 30 anni. Da qualche anno Creo installazioni video e sonore nella natura utilizzando un dispositivo elettronico che trasforma il campo elettromagnetico dei vegetali in melodie.

“Promuovo così la conoscenza della sensibilità del mondo vegetale e la consapevolezza della possibilità di comunicazione tra essere umano e natura. Il pubblico esperimenta l’unione benefica con gli spiriti della natura perché tutto è connesso in un sensibile gioco di alleanze."

—Manuela Martines

The video ‘Hong so’ allows me to relive the magic I felt as a child when I thought I could hear the trees breathe. On windy days the old trunks creaked and secretly sang their songs to me.  

I grafted some branched stems of the anemone hupehensis which blooms in late autumn in my garden on the house wall. In winter the plant keeps its seeds in small balls cotton sensitive to air and humidity that change constantly and become a sort of  barometer whose beauty makes me relive that secret joy. 

I wanted to give visible form to that vitality. In the darkness of the room I placed a torch bright against my body and its circle of light projected on the wall created undulating shadows to the intangible rhythm of my breath. So my mind calmed down and I listened to the subtle energy of the creator universe. Breathing with plants and plants with the universe means for me to find contact between my vital being and the world in a sort of embrace without time or space. 

In Sanskrit Hong So means constantly affirming the truth that the little human self is one with the infinite spirit. 

The melody that accompanies the video is produced by an electronic device that transforms the electromagnetic field of plants into sound, neurobiologists use it to study the sensitivity and intelligence of the plant world.