The Wetland Project book is the print component of a multidisciplinary and multimedia project centred on the sounds emanating from the ṮEḴTEḴSEN marsh, in unceded W̱SÁNEĆ territory (Saturna Island, British Columbia). The book will be edited by artists Brady Marks and Mark Timmings, who have been inspired by the sonic phenomena produced by this small patch of Earth to create a 24-hour Slow Radio Broadcast, based on field recordings from the marsh, that radio stations across North America and Europe have aired on Earth Day since 2017; a musical arrangement titled Wetland Senario, co-composed with Stephen Morris and performed by vocal ensemble musica intima; and a new media installation that algorithmically transforms sound frequencies from the marsh recordings into pure colour fields in flux.

Contributors to the book include novelist William Gibson, poet and spoken-word performer Susan McMaster, musicologist Stephen Morris, writer Alex Muir, poet Philip Kevin Paul, and sound artist and World Soundscape Project member Hildegaard Westerkamp. The algorithmic flow of colour fields throughout the publication combined with photos of the project and an audio interface accessed using smartphones and tablet devices will give the book a colourful, music box-like quality.

Learn more about the project and listen to the field recording here.

Signed by publisher + president, Chris Labonté. Fall 2022 publication.

The Wetland Project is a beautiful, quietly amazing work of micro-post-geographical art that allows us to be wherever we are and somewhere wonderfully natural and real, simultaneously. It’s an experience I wish everyone could have, and I wish there were more experiences like it. —William Gibson

In cities, we are increasingly isolated from the natural world on which we, as animals, remain utterly dependent for our health and wellbeing. Listening to nature is a necessary part of acknowledging the world around us. —David Suzuki, commenting on the Wetland Project