What would nature say?

What if plants had something to say? And what happens when we really take the time to listen? During the workshop ‘What Would Nature Say?’, we made our way from STUK to the Leuven Botanical Garden for a sensory journey of discovery centred on listening, care and nature.

Sound artist Lotte Nijsten and researcher Mercy-Gloria Ashepet guide us through a sensory workshop at the Leuven Botanical Garden, where participants walked, and listened to the sounds around them immersively.

Lotte, who investigates the relationship between sound and ecology, introduces the practice of deep listening, which is different from simply hearing: a meditative, intentional form of attention that goes far beyond simply registering sounds.

Mercy, a researcher at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, brings a complementary perspective: plants release vibration patterns, and listening to these signals means participating in the ecosystem rather than merely observing it. Listening, she reminds us, evokes a response.

During the walk, participants were paired-up, one blindfolded, the other guiding, so that their ears could take the lead. Without sight, they began noticing birdsong, the sound of water, and the intrusion of city noise into what the eyes had told them was a peaceful garden. Throughout the walk, participants listen to the sounds in the garden together with Lotte’s voice recording, guiding their listening expeirence.

Mercy also introduced the concept of acoustic ecology: the practice of collecting sound in the ecosystem. By temporarily removing the sense of sight, participants found themselves truly listening.

Later in the workshop, participants listened to the microscopic sounds of a plant being watered, to see how plants react to it. “I feel like I’m the tree”, one participant said.

Emma Ducheyne (RITCS), sound artist and multimedia creator with a strong interest in interdisciplinary collaboration and personal storytelling through audio, attended the workshop and interviewed Lotte and Mercy. She edited those recordings into a short podcast, so that the experience can continue to resonate afterwards.

The podcast is an invitation to slow down and pay attention. What surrounds us is already speaking. We just need to listen. The sounds remind us that we are not here to use the world for our own benefit, but to live together with it.

The workshop ‘What Would Nature Say?’ was part of the Culture & Care conference in Leuven, within the LOV project Body & Soul.