Sebastián Sandoval

Fractionated Ecosystem Plots is a collaborative audiovisual project based on the impact of urban life on a particular species, birds. Starting from the way they crash into the windows of different buildings due to the refraction of the natural landscape, and the effect this can have on their flight paths and aerial biophonies, Sandoval proposes aesthetic exercises that decipher and reveal the anthropogenic influence camouflaged in specific urban spaces. A work that reflects on science as a necessary source to demarcate the turning points between natural ecosystems and the Anthropocene, the shapers of new ways of perceiving the natural landscape. It promotes a space in which to reflect, through images and sound, on alternatives to binomial thinking, and to highlight the alterations that our urban society has caused in the different ecosystems.

The project focuses on an analysis of the phenomenon of birds crashing into glass surfaces, mainly in cities whose glass-walled architectural structures invade their space and whose reflections create hyper-real impressions or tunnels in the eyes of the creatures that collide with them. This work is part of a more general framework that addresses both the sonic and physical impacts that anthropogenised landscapes have on the human and non-human populations that inhabit cities.

On the basis of this specific concern, an invitation is extended to all those interested in the study of the spatial reconfigurations imposed by contemporary cities on the different species of birds in order to build up an image bank of photographs or videos of natural-virtual landscapes reflected in the windows of various architectural structures in Madrid and Bogotá, which evoke the artificiality of the landscape reflected in the glass. 

Based on an ecology that is committed to the fauna that travels through and lives in these cities, the first collaboration between participants from both countries will provide a fundamental basis for the selection of an archive that will make it possible to identify the most conflictive areas in terms of aerial collisions, in order to configure a cartography of incidents involving birds in the two territories. Another aim of this first compilation is to create an audiovisual work that will make it possible to stimulate reflection and come up with alternatives in relation to the impact of this new epoch, the Anthropocene, and to thus highlight the changes our urban society has caused in the different ecosystems. Finally, this archive will be donated to SEO/BirdLife in order to collaborate in their research on infrastructure mortality.

The research project for the residency at Medialab Matadero is based on a concept developed by the Flight Tunnel, that is, a scientific protocol of binomial choice, whose structure allows birds to fly in two directions: either towards a control window cross-hatched with linear segments, or towards an area where there are no such segments. Behind both windows there is a “natural” horizon which can be easily simulated. The scenario, developed by Austrian ornithologists, analyses the phenomenon of aerial bird collisions, caused by the reflection of fictitious landscapes on the glass surfaces of buildings. Birds that crash into windows because they see a natural landscape of trees, sky or clouds reflected on the glass, not realising that there is a hard, transparent surface between them and the space opening up in front of them (SEO/BirdLife). The tunnel makes it possible to recognise the artificial nature reflected in the glass, by means of lattices or linear patterns.

Sebastián Sandoval Quimbayo is a plastic and visual artist from the ASAB Faculty of Arts at the Universidad Distral. He holds a master's degree in Sound Art from the University of Barcelona, and has studied Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands. In Colombia, his work has been exhibited in several galleries and cultural spaces such as the Salón Nacional de Artistas, the Salón Regional de Artistas, the Archivo de Bogotá, Artecámara, the MAC of Bogotá, ArtBo, among others. He has participated in residencies and exhibitions in Argentina, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Mexico. He was a member of the education department of the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art for more than three years. He has participated in various work teams in festivals and cultural events such as ARCO Madrid, ArtBo and La Otra. He has received various awards in the field of visual and sound arts such as the ICETEX scholarship for studies abroad, the Sala Alterna GSF Creation Scholarship, the FUGA Sound Plastic Scholarship and the Art and Nature Award from the Ministry of Culture, among others.

More information on theMedialab-Matadero website

Winning project of the Bogotá - Medialab Matadero Platform Residency, part of the Idartes District Stimulus Program - 2022.