Eco-Sensing and the Soundscape is a conceptually focused studio course, connecting concepts and practices of acoustic ecology with the hacking aesthetic of art and technology to offer new understandings of our environments and our boundaries, locations, and roles within it. Studio time will be scaffolded by field trips, visiting artists, and collaborative projects.
Description
Extending beyond the visual, Eco-Sensing and the Soundscape seeks to integrate senses within and beyond the human body to engage in a deeper understanding of the world by blending techniques of listening and observation with new media technologies of signaling, sensing and recording.
Ecological concerns are intrinsically tied to new media technologies, and as we use them to understand our environments these practices must also be paired with critical discussions, public engagement, and an understanding of these techniques in a broader repertoire of unmediated listening and observation.
The team taught course will leverage the expertise and community involvement of each instructor. Eric will introduce techniques and practices of acoustic ecology, and Lindsey will present present strategies and techniques of new media technologies. Both instructors share overlapping areas of expertise and research in ecological landscapes and environmental concerns. These areas of research and involvement will formalize in the classroom to connect technical skills with the generation of art work in public and community oriented arenas. Class discussions rooted in texts of listening, ecology and new media will be reinforced by exercises in listening, sensing and computing, and ultimately brought to form as public and site specific works and performances.
Eco-Sensing and the Soundscape 