The UC Davis Design Museum’s November exhibit offers students a space to decompress through sensory immersion
By SAVANNAH ANNO — arts@theaggie.org
On view from Nov. 1 to 22, the UC Davis Design Museum debuted “Sonic Horizons: A Sensory Immersive Video Installation,” created by Master of Fine Arts (MFA) design graduate student Maral Salehian. This quarter marking her last at UC Davis, “Sonic Horizons” serves as an accumulation of everything the artist has learned over the last two years studying spatial and exhibition design.
“I’ve been working on this concept of bringing nature into a built-in environment since the pandemic,” Salehian said. “During lockdown, spending so much time indoors, I started to question the impact that being in our homes can have on us.”
“Sonic Horizons” consists of three different projected screens, inviting visitors to sit on benches placed in the middle of the room while each screen shifts through videos of various scenery. A melodic music track plays while visitors are shown a shifting sunset, the early morning view of a lake, grazing horses and the sun peeking through the trees all at once.
Each clip was filmed by Salehian herself, who spent at least a full day at each location collecting footage. The hardest part of creating the installation was editing down hours-long videos into clips that last just under two minutes, according to Salehian. Combining the clips together, two of the “Sonic Horizons” screens project loops of about 10 minutes, while the third screen is a shorter, singular shot of trees.
“It’s pretty hyper-local,” Salehian said. “One screen shows the view from my window, another one I filmed just outside of my house with a drone and the rest are locations still very near to Davis like Napa, Winters and Lake Berryessa.”
Stepping into the installation, visitors are met with scenery all too familiar. The landscapes are the same ones students see on walks to and from class, the view from apartment balconies or drives between Davis and the Bay Area. Everything important about California’s landscapes is summed up into three projections: the hills are golden, the water is clear and the sunset is its usual perfect mix of pink and orange.
“My purpose was to try and reconnect people with their surroundings,” Salehian said. “We often overlook the beauty of the nature that we’re so used to. We forget how healing it is.”
While the visuals are familiar, the presentation is new. With almost every clip shot through a drone positioned 100 feet above ground, Salehian offers visitors a new point of view. The choice also speaks to Salehian’s strategic process of blending the natural world with the artificial.
“There are at least three different times of day shown all at once, so it’s not how we naturally experience nature,” Salehian said. “Even the landscapes you’re seeing, like Lake Berryessa, are entirely man-made. Every single element within the exhibit is artificial.”
But in the end, artificial elements evoke natural sensations, according to Salehian. With its dreamy atmosphere and melodic music composed by Belgian artist Gert Stockmans, “Sonic Horizons” is refreshing. The installation brings back feelings of simple awe, like walking down a tree-lined street and looking up instead of down at the sidewalk, or reaching the end of a long hiking trail and finally seeing the view from its highest point.
“I see nature as the most beautiful thing in the world,” Salehian said. “Whether it’s a furniture piece or an installation, I love integrating natural elements into my design process.”
Outside of the video clips and backing soundtrack, the exhibition also includes two large benches, both made by Salehian herself. With a natural wood top and more industrial metal legs, Salehian continued to blend nature with design down to the smallest of details.
Earning her Master of Arts (MA) degree in industrial design from the University of Tehran in 2022, Salehian initially focused on furniture design in Iran before moving to Davis. Being so far from home and placed in a new environment, Salehian’s outside perspective also influenced the selection of footage for the installation.
“I came to the states two years ago, and the sky here is pretty different from where I used to live,” Salehian said. “I wanted to integrate my own unique fascination with the sky in the project as well.”
Beyond her own love for nature and desire to reconnect others with their environment is Salehian’s dedication to promoting mental well-being. In this ever-advancing, rapidly urbanizing world, Salehian aimed to create a space that could offer viewers a respite from it all. While visitors may not have had the time for an early hike or a trip to Lake Berryessa, they were able to slip into Cruess Hall in between lectures and get that same feeling.
“I got this comment from one of my friends, she said, ‘I was so stressed out about being late to your opening, but the moment that I stepped into the space I felt at ease,’” Salehian said. “I was so happy it worked. That was my goal, to make people feel calm.”
Coming to a close on Nov. 22, Salehian was also able to reflect on the installation’s month-long run and what she observed about visitors.
“Since I designed and created it myself, I never get to sit inside and truly see it,” Salehian said. “I know everything about it, so I never could have imagined that people would spend so much time in the space, maybe half an hour or more sitting and watching the loops over and over again.”
Rethinking the relationship between the digital world and the physical one, Salehian’s work harmonized the otherwise rocky relationship between nature and technology. A multi-sensory experience, “Sonic Horizons” works to create a moving depiction of our environment, reminding us to take a breath and appreciate what’s all around us.
Written by: Savannah Anno — arts@theaggie.org
