Termites Speaking in Tongues by Chu-Li Shewring, 10.1 channel sound installation within the walls and ceiling of the Cinema Tower at the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw
Termites Speaking in Tongues are fantasies on infestations of fictional insect, creature and humanoid colonies within the walls of the Museum’s Cinema Tower. From afar there is the sense of a collective, but closer listening reveals individuals within the colony going about their own business: calls and responses, scurrying, scratching, warnings, knocking, squeaks, murmurings. When agitated, they join in unison as though in a state of rapture, reminiscent of glossolalia or “speaking in tongues,” where incomprehensible syllables are vocalised, resembling a form of divine language. Only then do they become aware of an existence beyond themselves and their immediate environment, stopping to listen to the reverberations from above, echoes of themselves, but soon slide back into their routines, to and from silence. In collaboration with the Sirenes Chamber Choir, the piece incorporates the improvised soundings of eight performers, archival recordings, found sounds, field recordings, and foley sound effects.
The installation is available to visit during the festival Sonics & Scenics at the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw from 26 June to 21 September 2025.
Conceived and composed by Chu-Li Shewring
Recorded by Adam Gutch
With vocalists from the Sirenes Chamber Choir – Marta Szycman, Dana Mikulska, Dominika Jagiełło, Joanna Danielewska-Grabowska, Joanna Popko, Agata Obłąkowska-Gwizda, Julita Skomorowska, Olga Myślińska – conducted by Magdalena Gruziel
Curated and produced by Marta Michalowska and Thomas Zanon-Larcher (The Wapping Project), Anna Litwińska and Jagna Lewandowska (Museum of Modern Art Warsaw)
Technical development and installation by Łukasz Zygarlicki (Sound Support Pro)
Commissioned by The Wapping Project, co-commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, for the festival Sonics & Scenics, supported by the British Council through UK/Poland Season 2025.
