Fossilized Futures  (immersive audiovisual installation)

by Marco Barotti and Robertina Šebjanič

Serra Madre A/V TECH: Andrea Turone

From 5 to 8 February 2026 , on the occasion of ART CITY Bologna 2026 , Serra Madre hosts Fossilized Futures , an immersive audiovisual installation by Robertina Šebjanič and Marco Barotti.

Fossilized Futures moves within the temporality of the river , a time that does not proceed linearly but accumulates and settles, building a layered memory made of biological sediments, human histories, and geological processes. It is in this dimension that the multichannel sound score takes shape, generated by the sonification of river data, environmental recordings, and choral voices collected along the Meuse and Sambre rivers , composing a soundscape that seems to breathe with the water.

The work is born from an unprecedented collaboration between artists and artificial intelligence systems , fueled by a broad ecosystem of scientific data, natural and cultural heritage, hydrological memories, and mythological narratives. In this intertwining, the distinction between natural and artificial becomes porous, and sound becomes an expanded voice of the river, through which environment, community, and technology reveal themselves as parts of a single ongoing transformation.

The installation takes shape around two presences belonging to radically different timescales . Strudiella devonica , a Devonian fossil discovered in Belgium, recalls deep geological time , a river world predating human presence, capable of spanning millions of years as a natural archive. The Atlantic salmon , on the other hand, embodies the fragile time of the present , a migratory species whose survival reflects the health of contemporary rivers. In the dialogue between these two life forms, Fossilized Futures traverses vanished ecosystems and current ecological emergencies, allowing the river to emerge as a place where deep times and vulnerable presents meet.

Opening hours

Opening February 5th: 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM
February 6: 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
February 7 : 11:00-22:00
February 8: 11:00-19:00

The dialogue between art and technology

The project stems from in-depth research into hydrological and ecological data from the Meuse and Sambre rivers. The artists worked with information on river flow, water temperature, oxygen levels, and biodiversity indicators , integrating them with historical archives documenting the presence and progressive disappearance of various species over time.

These sonified materials fuel the rhythm, timbre, and sound trajectories of the multichannel composition. In this way, the river's dynamics themselves become an active part of the narrative . The work's structure follows the principle of confluence , in which human voices, environmental recordings, scientific data, and AI- generated elements flow and intertwine like converging currents. The vocal parts, performed by opera singers in multiple languages , expand the choral dimension of the river and evoke the cultural stratification of Europe's waterways.

Artificial intelligence acts as a collaborative tool , analyzing datasets, archival materials, and visual textures to generate transformations that are then interpreted and integrated into the work.

Installation in the mother greenhouse

The installation was redesigned for the spaces of the main greenhouse and its immersive multi-channel audio system, working on the spatialization of sound and its ability to construct a continuous perceptual environment.

In this scenario, Fossilized Futures transforms into a waterscape of sound , finding the ideal form in the greenhouse structure to unleash its evocative potential. Sound is the very substance of the experience , a gesture of active listening that invites the audience to breathe along with the flow of the water, its memories, and its metamorphoses.

Fossilized Futures is a collective listening experience , in which sound connects the time of the river, its sedimented memories and the transformations underway, making listening an act of relating to environmental processes that exceed the human scale.

Credits

Fossilized Futures by Marco Barotti and Robertina Šebjanič
Artist (video, audio, text, objects): Marco Barotti and Robertina Šebjanič
Video support in AI,3D: Tanja Minarik and Riccardo Torresi
Vocal arrangements / vocal scores: Franz Anderegg
Singers: Pierre Derhet, Aline Ferber, Mathilde Sevrin
Production: KIKK, as part of Co-Vision, a Creative Europe project co-funded by the European Union 2024 – 2026
In collaboration with the Cav&ma, Chœur de Chambre de Namur.
Curator: Marie du Chastel
Production manager: Marie de Ganay

Special thanks to Dr. Valérie Cornet, Carolin Mayer and the researchers and team at UNamur for their invaluable support with the research that informed the project; Vincent Bordignon for his assistance during the recordings; the KIKK, Trakk and Le Pavillon's teams and everyone who contributed with their discreet yet essential help. A special thanks to our oracle, fossil Strudiella devonic, Salmon, and the rivers Meuse and Sambre.

Ph. www.noemalab.eu