Paper short abstract:

Staged as a public experiment this performative presentation between Maurice and his sonic agents mobilizes soundscape ecology as sonic assemblage to equally prompt presenters and audiences to shift perceptions on techno-ecological entanglements.

Paper long abstract:

The entanglement of technological progress and ecological destruction lies at the core of humanity's existential crisis. Technology destroys the very environment it is constituted of, while techno-solutionism is touted as the remedy for this self-inflicted predicament (Mbembe, 2022). In reaction, Achille Mbembe (2022) advocates for a reconceptualization of human/non-human relationships as an Earthly Community, where humans and non-humans, be it nature or technology, coexist based on the in-common rather than the universal. The research-creation project Soundscapes of an Earthly Community mobilizes the concept of sonic assemblages to critique current techno-ecological trajectories and imagine said cohabitation rooted in in-common soundscape ecologies.

Soundscape ecology recognizes that our sonic environments are constituted of biophonic, geophonic, anthropophonic, and technophonic layers of sound. Transitioning from soundscape ecology to sonic assemblage underscores the relational intersubjectivity and performativity of sonic agents when co-inhabiting their in-common natural and/or artificial sonic environments. The spatial, generative and interactive sound installation deploys a variety of sonic agents, which utilize generative AI audio to craft evolving, artificial soundscape ecologies imagined as sonic assemblages.

As an ongoing public experiment, each iteration of the project explores how the spatial and interactive sonification of techno-ecological situations may prompt audiences to co-produce alternative perceptions of the issues at hand. The project thus grapples with the “unresolved tension between discursive-critique of techno-scientific ‘imbroglios’ and the production of non-discursive aesthetic objects that address these issues”. For the EASST-4S 2024 session, I will do a performative presentation in conversation with the latest generation of prototyped sonic agents.