52 (Oceanic Feelings)

Ingeborg Kraft Fermin

Fine Arts

Sculptural sound installation

In the late 1980s, a research facility in Massachusetts detected a signal in the Pacific Ocean on the unusual frequency of 52 hertz. As it is commonly believed that this sound came from a whale singing on a different frequency from all other whales, marine biologists and scientists have been occupied in searching for it ever since. Frequently heard through its distant call, but never actually seen, this being’s inability to communicate with its peers implies that it has spent its entire life in complete solitude. They call it “the loneliest whale in the world”, or simply “52”. In 52 (Oceanic Feelings) Ingeborg Kraft Fermin embodies this solitary being.