Ground Noise

In electrical and electronic systems, a ground noise is a sound interference, a stray noise considered as disturbance. Like a flying insect trapped in a lamp, it is a continuous rustle, a vibration that seeks to escape. Its presence is considered annoying, therefore one usually seeks to get rid of it.
Insects and arthropods trigger atavistic reactions in us. Even dead and pinned under glass, a spider will be able to frighten, even for a moment, an adult human being. Admittedly, we have somehow tamed our fears towards them, through admiration (“the incredible work of ants”, “the beauty of butterflies”) or recognition (“the bees, our so useful nurturers”), but this teeming fauna remains nonetheless mysterious, obscure, even unsettling.
This work is extended by a conversation between Celine Clanet and eco-acoustician Jerome Sueur, a specialist of the “melody of insects”.

From the Back Cover

Photographer Celine Clanet combines black-and-white shots taken in various French forests with micrographs of organic elements collected in the same areas. Playing with scale, the artist explores the surface of the world and opens the doors to a universe that is both strange and familiar.

In electrical and electronic systems, ‘ground noise' is sound interference, a parasitic noise that is considered harmful. Like a flying insect trapped in a lamp, it's a continuous rustle, a hum, a vibration that tries to escape. The teeming world of insect and arthropod fauna awakens primitive reactions in us, and it is precisely this universe, rarely seen, that the photographer reveals to us.