ABOUT WORLD ORGAN

WHAT IS IT?

World Organ consists of tuned tubes that listen to the world and relay the sound they gather via the Web to an audience. World Organ, by portraying its surroundings sonically, offers an alternative representation of land and seascape. Its design exploits a set of different but intersecting acoustic phenomena inherent in tubes as it gathers, shapes and colours the sounds around it, and it weaves musical layers into the sounds of the natural world.

World Organ can be regarded as a musical instrument activated by factors around it rather than a human player. It is so called because, like a conventional pipe organ, it comprises tuned tubes enclosing columns of air, producing, as a group, chords and sweeping harmonic shifts. As these environmental events occur, the organ conveys the visceral impact of weather and climate as it is driven by the wind, rain, and anything else that moves the air in its tubes. Meanwhile, as the tubes are also resonant chambers, sound entering them will be coloured by the pitches set out in the organ’s tuning.

Its sound is hypnotic and compelling, asking us to listen; wind will cause its specially devised scale to produce colliding arpeggios, while rain falling onto the tubes will generate chattering chords. In its stillest moments, a gentle harmonic hum will supply a calming backdrop to the sounds of the birds, insects and other wildlife around it.

World Organ’s objective is to create an experience of hearing something extraordinary, as it happens far away, and to represent Place. World Organ paints a picture of our planet in sound, and it encourages an audience to connect live, collectively, to the sonic landscape as it happens. Without prescribing how audiences will “read” what they hear, the project unquestionably addresses themes of ecology, climate, connectedness, and mindfulness.

TAKING IT TO THE WORLD

Giles Perring began World Organ as an installation on the Isle of Jura, streaming via a YouTube account. Now there is a full set up in the Faroe Islands, and several more in the pipeline. The vision for the project is to combine locations across the world into a global live listening experience – indeed, a World Organ. Rather than a single fixed mix, the project invites its audience to take part in making what they hear by creating their own mixes, and on 25 September 2026, the project launches a new mixer page that lets listeners find a place either on Jura, in the Faroes, or somewhere between the two, where they can create the sound for whatever moment in their day they choose. The live 2 Island Mixer featuring Jura and the Faroes is the first realisation of an idea that will be growing to create a true World Organ.