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Sounding the mountain butterflies in Slovenia

22.08.2019

From 4 – 10 August, Staša Guček from Slovenia participated in a seven-day summer hacking camp (PIFcamp) in the Julian Alps, Soča Valley, Slovenia. It was here that art, technology and knowledge intersected.

Guček has a professional background in Slavic languages, but her interest lies in scientific illustration, analog electronics, bioacoustics and field recordings. She is a member of an experimental music collective called Kikimore, a group of six women sound researchers that have performed at over 30 venues across Europe. Through her work in sound, she has discovered her passion for fragile ecosystems and the world of insects, which have become the basis of her creative projects.

Photo from Katja Goljat

She developed analog instruments with electronic circuits that are shaped like endangered mountain butterflies. These instruments will be used as tools for the visually impared and blind to learn about protected butterfly species, and to increase awareness of the rapid decline of insects - in which butterflies and moths take the biggest toll - and climate change in fragile mountain and arctic environments.

Photo from Katja Goljat

Photo from Peter Žagar

Two of the instruments take the shape of the butterfly species called the Mountain Apollo and the Sentinel Arctic. Mountain Apollo butterflies live in the alpine meadows of the continental European mountains, in altitudes ranging from 400 to 2 300 metres. These butterflies have specific climatic needs: a cold winter and a sunny summer. Even though these small creatures have a wingspan of only about 80 millimetres, they require wide and open spaces. Unfortunately, the Mountain Apollo is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. One of the probable causes of the butterfly's looming extinction is the warming of the climate in mountain regions, a change to which the butterflies cannot readily adapt.

The Sentinel Arctic species is found in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, and in high-altitude mountains. These butterflies are notable for being able to endure the harshest climates: from Siberia to Alaska to the Yukon. The Sentinel Arctic is even smaller than the Mountain Apollo, with a wingspan of only about forty millimetres. The butterflies are generally a local, uncommon species, and only appear about every two years. When they are spotted, they are most frequently on dry, rocky hilltops.

Why study mountain butterflies? Butterflies are good bioindicators of environmental degradation and biodiversity because they are extensively studied across time and have relatively short life cycles, therefore they respond rapidly to climate variations and changes in the ecosystem.

Coming up next month, Guček will share her innovation with a larger audience through a workshop at the Sonica Festival of Contemporary Electronic Music and Transitory Art in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Guček will lead a workshop so that people can learn about the initiative and create their own butterfly-shaped instruments. The festival will take place from 23 – 28 September.

News from Staša Guček

Thumbnail photo from Katja Goljat