In this presentation I will describe and examine the reconceptualization, conduct, and outputs of a project in Colombia that addressed issues arising from the translation of data produced by the acoustic monitoring and measuring of sound environments into aesthetic domains of visual art and music. The project is about the collaborative creation of a music album to show how a network of communities in Colombia relate to issues of biodiversity through the sounds of various species (mostly bats, frogs and birds). The practices and devices of digital tools of acoustic monitoring and measuring involved here, derive from the field of bio-acoustics (in Colombia) and music production (in a variety of locations). My discussion principally concerns the technical and aesthetic choices made in the shift from bioacoustics to music production domains, and the presentation will be illustrated by a short film. For further information, see: https://cucusonic.net/cucusonic.
Meeting ID: 999 7592 8850
Passcode: 861910
Dr Rupert Cox is the director of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, University of Manchester, and an anthropologist, filmmaker and artist collaborator with a long-standing interest in Japan. His research has touched upon topics including the Zen Arts, the ‘copying culture’ of Japan, the environmental politics of US military bases, and the relationship between bioacoustics and conservation in Colombia. Thematically, his research interests lie at the intersections between art, science, and anthropology, and draws on practices from sound art, documentary and landscape film, and public engagement. He is currently developing an ethnography and cultural history of military aircraft noise for Bloomsbury Press entitled The Sound of the Sky Being Torn.
Director of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, University of Manchester
Dr Rupert Cox is the director of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, University of Manchester, and an anthropologist, filmmaker and artist collaborator with a long-standing interest in Japan.