Eli Moldavsky

52 Hertz

Sound installation In 1989 in the Pacific Ocean, the US Navy accidentally discovered the world's loneliest whale. Its song was detected by their anti-submarine sonar and was heard every year since then, up until 2014. It was constantly singing, even though no other whale was able to hear its call. That is because the frequency its song emits was measured at about 52 hertz, while other whales sing in the range of 20 to 40. The inability to be understood set against the strong desire for communication is the main experience I am trying to decode from the whale's song, out of the will to return to a pre-verbal form of human communication, where frequencies are the only real tool for understanding.