FREEZE

FREEZE: FREQUENCIES SHAPING ECOSYSTEMS is an immersive live performance and durational installation by Francisca Rocha Gonçalves, inspired by deep-listening research into the aquatic ecosystem of the Tagus Estuary, specifically the urban landscape surrounding the municipality of Oeiras. Through a large-scale installation combining different sound frequencies, ice and light, the artist invites the public to confront the pervasive yet often unnoticed impact of noise pollution on the natural environment. Focusing on the vocal species of the Tagus River, she demonstrates how anthropogenic noise disrupts essential communication channels vital to the survival and reproduction of aquatic life. The work integrates spatial soundscapes, sub-bass vibrations and laser projections that trace waveforms carved into ice sculptures. This hybrid of light, sound, and underwater communication, simulates an environment where natural soundscapes and artificial noise converge, allowing viewers to experience the invasive effects of noise pollution. A symbol of society’s paralysis in the face of climate inaction, it echoes the disturbances faced by aquatic life and evokes a state of stasis.

Developed in collaboration with Nature, the event begins with a live performance by the artist were gradually the light and sound dissipate and the sculptures morph – influenced by nature’s intemperies and the passage of time – into a single drop of water that will ultimately be a component of CAM’s new garden ecosystem. 

Live ice carving by James Diamond

A project developed during the Art & Science Residency A Call to the Sea, which took place at the Vasco da Gama Aquarium in 2024, in the municipality of Oeiras, as part of the European project Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, with CAM-Centro de Arte Moderna serving as the Cultural Partner.

Credits:

Artist – Francisca Rocha Gonçalves

Artistic team – Joahnnes Goessling, Kira Gama Rocha, Pedro Frade

Special participation  – James Diamond (Diamond Pure Ice)

Speaker for the living – Paula Corte-Real

Zoöp Collaboration – Tagus River and species

Programme – Inês Valle

Production – Matilde Neves

Photography & Video – Francisca Siza

Other partnerships

MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre
ARNET – Aquatic Research Network
CE3C – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes
CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute at Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.

Financial Support- European Union

Acknowledgements

Alexandra Vasconcelos, André Martins, Elisabete Brigadeiro, Francisca Siza, Tenente Francisco Calado, James Diamond, Johannes Goessling, Kira Gama Rocha, Marco Frade, Capitão de Fragata Maria Martins, Miguel Lourie, Capitão de Mar e Guerra Nuno Galhardo Leitão, Patrícia Chaves, Pedro Frade, Rafael Calado, Rui Macedo, Valentina Demarchi, Danceplanet, Elektranz, Monopol (José e Salvador Burrel).