Soundwalk and Chicago Phonography Concert :: Saturday, October 8, 2011 from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. :: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore’s Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education — 100 North Lake Street,
Gary, Indiana:: Created By Dan Godston for the World Listening Project.

The Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology and World Listening Project continue their partnership with the National Park Service to present a concert by Chicago Phonography and a Miller Woods soundwalk at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore’s Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education. All ages, free and open to the public.

Explore the natural soundscape of Miller Woods trail with a soundwalk led by the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology. Continue reading

ISEA Istanbul presents Soundwwwalk Performance Panel: in­ves­ti­ga­tions to­wards an Acoustic Ecol­ogy of Net­works and the world wide web as in­ter­face and ma­te­r­ial for live per­for­mance — Chair Per­son: Bern­hard Gar­nic­nig; Pre­sen­ters: Ceci Moss, Jamie Allen, Peter Moos­gaard, Con­stant Dul­laart, Ju­lian Palacz, Joel Holm­berg, Will Schrimshaw :: Sep­tem­ber 17, 2011; 1:00 - 2:30 pm :: Sa­banci Cen­ter Room 7, Sa­banci Cen­ter, Lev­ent.

Com­puter net­works and cities both are so­cial spaces that have emerged as ma­te­r­ial spaces where lives are lead and work gets done. They are su­per­struc­tures for com­mu­ni­ca­tion, net­works of chan­nels where in­for­ma­tion and goods are trans­ferred. Both spaces have their par­tic­u­lar acoustic prop­er­ties and qual­i­ties, and while ex­ten­sive stud­ies of en­vi­ron­men­tal acoustics and the sound­scape of our en­vi­ron­ment have been emerg­ing in the last 40 years, net­work spaces are still con­sid­ered to be spaces with­out sound, acoustics or any sonic prop­er­ties. Continue reading

Join the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology, World Listening Project, and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to celebrate World Listening Day, as they host a Chicago Phonography performance and Nighttime Soundwalk :: July 18, 2011; 4:00 - 9:00 pm :: Douglas Center, 100 North Lake Street, Gary, IN :: Schedule online here.

World Listening Day observes July 18 as a day to: Celebrate the practice of listening as it relates to the world around us, environmental awareness, and acoustic ecology; Raise awareness about issues related to the World Soundscape Project, World Listening Project, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, and individual and group efforts to creatively explore phonography; Design and implement educational initiatives which explore these concepts and practices. For further details and updates please visit the MSAE website/.

Bryan Pijanowski of Purdue University is hoping to start a new research discipline that he calls soundscape ecology; it will “use sound as a way to understand the ecological characteristics of a landscape,” as ScienceDaily reports.

Image: Photo courtesy of the Purdue College of Agriculture/Tom Campbell, via ScienceDaily

Sound, Pijanowski suggests, is a kind of ecological indicator: an audible symptom of other, sometimes literally invisible changes in a living network or ecosystem. Sound, for instance, can “be used to detect early changes in climate, weather patterns, the presence of pollution or other alterations to a landscape.” As Pijanowski explains one example of this approach, “The dawn and dusk choruses of birds are very characteristic of a location. If the intensity or patterns of these choruses change, there is likely something causing that change. Ecologists have ignored how sound that emanates from an area can help determine what’s happening to the ecosystem.” Continue reading

Waveforms by Carrie Bodle :: October 28 - November 28, 2010 :: Harborview Eye Institute, 7th Floor, Ninth & Jefferson Building, 908 Jefferson St., Seattle, WA.

Part of her Sewing Sonifications series, Waveforms originated from a collaboration with UW Oceanographic Scientist Dr. Neil Banas and is an exploration into using data from ecosystem models along the Washington coast to create tangible experiences of research through art. Sound is translated from data, then visualized and made tactile by the artist embroidering the combined waveform into a continuous sound wave.

Waveforms was made with the support of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, 4Culture, and Harborview Medical Center.

Sound Ecologies: Listening in the City :: November 18, 2009; 10:00 am - 4:00 pm :: Department of Music, City University London, Northampton Square, London. EC1V 0HB :: Free

A day of presentations, participatory workshops and informal performance around themes of urban sound, networked sound, locative media and acoustic ecology – the relationship between living beings and their environment, as mediated by sound. Featuring Furtherfield (Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett), and guest speakers Stanza, Peter Cusack, Ximena Alarcón and Pedro Rebelo. Continue reading

Carrie Bodle: Sewing Sonifications Performance :: October 10, 2009; 2:00 - 6:00 pm :: Westlake Park, Seattle, WA.

Visual and sound artist Carrie Bodle will create a five-channel sound installation and sewing performance sonifying data from an ecosystem model developed by UW oceanographic scientist Dr. Neil Banas. Sound is translated from data, then visualized and made tactile by the artist embroidering the combined waveform into a continuous sound wave.

This computer model simulates the growth and consumption of plankton in the ocean ecosystem along the Washington coast during summer 2005. The five sound channels broadcast five dimensions in this data: Continue reading

Columbia College Chicago Art + Design Lecture Series presents World Listening Project :: April 15, 2009; 6:30 - 8:00 pm :: Ferguson Hall, Columbia College Chicago, 600 Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL.

The Art + Design Department is proud to present the World Listening Project (WLP). Panelists will talk about its current local and international efforts, and discuss opportunities for designers and artists to participate in the unrealized potential that lies in the field of acoustic ecology, in order more fully to realize an effective and creative response to an all too often neglected part of human experience and knowledge—the world of sound and our ability to listen. Listening means paying attention. If you want to change the world, you need to listen to it. The panel discussion’s participants include: Eric Leonardson, Jesse Seay, Chad Clark, Brett Balough, and Dan Godston. Continue reading

Returning for its third year, the Electronic Music Foundation’s acclaimed sound art, music and ecology festival Ear to the Earth will take place this month in locations all over New York City. Ear to the Earth is organized around the principle that sound’s distinct emotional impact makes it a significant medium in which to explore environmental concerns such as global warming, extinction and habitat destruction. Divided into two sections, “New York Soundscapes” and “Other Soundscapes,” this year’s events maintain a strong urban emphasis. Andrea Polli’s installation Cloud Car, takes the automobile, a key force within the development of American cities, as its locus. With the aide of special effects technician Chuck Varga, Polli will envelop a Ford Taurus station wagon entirely in mist. Visitors will be invited to sit in the car and listen to environmental sound compositions. Resembling a broken down vehicle on the side of a highway, the work is a poignant symbol for America’s current predicament in regards to oil dependency. Cloud Car will be on display at Eyebeam October 18th and will then move to the New York Hall of Science on October 25th. Continue reading

ARTS ELECTRIC presents EAR TO THE EARTH 2008 :: October 15 - 25 :: Various venues in New York City.

Ear to the Earth 2008 began with the launch of New York Soundscape, a multi-year project to create a panoramic portrayal of the city’s audio personality and urban ecology by composers, sound artists, students, and New Yorkers from all walks of life. The composers this year include Walter Branchi, Francisco Lopez, Alvin Curran, Michael Schumacher, Miya Masaoka, Richard Lainhart, Lo Vid, Marina Rosenfeld, Andrea Polli, Ezequiel Vinao, Charlie Morrow, Helen Fisher, Matthew Burtner, and John Cage.

Don’t miss New York Big Fritz, a multimedia presentation of Times Square around the clock, produced by faculty and students of the NYU Music Technology program, among them Agnieszka Roginska, Paul Geluso, Robert Rowe, Joel Chadabe, and Tom Beyer. (Image above is: Recording New York Big Fritz - Photo by Izzi Ramkissoon) Continue reading