CNR-ISB “Tuscia in Fiore 2025”

Viterbo, Italy

“Tuscia in Fiore 2025”

“Plants’ Melodies: Biodiversity Sustainability and Music from Biosignals from Plants.”

Carmelo Cannarella

CNR-ISB

18 may 2025

“Tuscia in Fiore” is an important exhibition event held in the historic center of Viterbo, located in the Tuscia region of Italy. The event is dedicated to showcasing the region’s rich botanical heritage, with particular emphasis on flowers. Attracting thousands of tourists and visitors at regional, national and international level, it involves the participation of a large number of exhibitors and having in its programme, a wide range of artistic and recreational activities.

As part of the event, the Institute for Biological Systems of the National Research Council (CNR-ISB) is presenting the initiative “Plants’ Melodies: Biodiversity, Sustainability, and Music from Plant Biosignals.” This workshop-performance, held by Carmelo Cannarella, Senior Technologist at CNR-ISB, aims to explore the theme of biodiversity through an innovative immersive experience. Utilizing the electrical conductivity (EC) of plants and trees, bioelectrical signals are captured and converted into sound impulses. These impulses are then processed via a synthesizer to produce harmonic tones and musical compositions. The initiative is directed to foster a novel perspective about nature and biodiversity by engaging audiences through sound as well as to show how plants are true mediators between the earth and the sky. Plants in fact act as an ‘open system,’ interconnected between the sky and the earth, constantly subject to the influence of these two regions, of which they become the combined expression. Many factors, among which the characteristics and qualities of the soils – at the core of the SPIN-FERT project – play a fundamental role, thus have a great influence on the plants’ health, which is reflected in the electrical conductivity from which we generate these sonic biofeedbacks.