The Last Whispers: Innovative Soundscape Comes to Life at British Museum

Lena Herzog’s “Last Whispers: Oratorio for Vanished Voices, Collapsing Universes and a Fallen Tree” project recently debuted at the British Museum during the Bloomsbury Festival. The immersive installation occurred in silence with hundreds of voice recordings from all over the world available for listening. By giving words, songs, and stories from dying and extinct languages a platform, the exhibit highlighted the disappearance of our linguistic diversity.

“It was simply not possible to find a better place to premiere Last Whispers, the work on extinct and endangered languages, than at The British Museum, the home of the Rosetta Stone at the Living and Dying Gallery surrounded by the artifacts that come from the home of so many voices in the Oratorio,” said Herzog.

Autograph supplied Meyer UPJ-1P and USW-1P loudspeakers and Galileo 616 Processors for the exhibit, bringing the innovative soundscape and vision to life. “Meyer Sound and Autograph allowed these voices to inhabit the space with volume, subtlety, precision and heart breaking tenderness,” Herzog added.