WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.570 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.570 --> 00:00:02.260 align:middle line:90% Thank you Barbara, so much. 00:00:02.260 --> 00:00:08.230 align:middle line:84% Thank you all for coming out on this chilly evening in Tucson. 00:00:08.230 --> 00:00:11.220 align:middle line:84% What I'm going to do tonight is present a fly 00:00:11.220 --> 00:00:13.380 align:middle line:84% through of a lot of the different work I've 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.320 align:middle line:84% been doing over the past maybe 30 years, 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:19.650 align:middle line:84% but particularly focus upon recent work. 00:00:19.650 --> 00:00:24.420 align:middle line:84% And then even finish with work in progress, 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:28.260 align:middle line:84% and this will consist as much of listening to sounds as it 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:31.510 align:middle line:90% does listening to me. 00:00:31.510 --> 00:00:35.430 align:middle line:84% I'm also going to be projecting the words that I'm reading, 00:00:35.430 --> 00:00:39.960 align:middle line:84% and I do that intentionally, because I'm a big believer that 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:43.410 align:middle line:84% having these multimodal sensory inputs helped 00:00:43.410 --> 00:00:47.780 align:middle line:90% to imprint us in a deeper way. 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:51.100 align:middle line:84% So with that said, I hope to leave enough ample time 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:56.050 align:middle line:84% for any questions that are triggered off in your mind, 00:00:56.050 --> 00:01:00.850 align:middle line:84% and also having this to read from keeps me-- 00:01:00.850 --> 00:01:03.280 align:middle line:90% I tend to be a wind up toy. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:09.190 align:middle line:84% So if I'm left to my own devices, 00:01:09.190 --> 00:01:11.620 align:middle line:84% this would go on for six or seven hours 00:01:11.620 --> 00:01:15.010 align:middle line:90% and be completely non-linear. 00:01:15.010 --> 00:01:17.840 align:middle line:84% So this is a way of keeping myself reined in. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.230 align:middle line:84% But during questions, we can have the chance 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:23.750 align:middle line:84% to really hopefully engage this in some other manner. 00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:27.670 align:middle line:84% So with that said, I do call this listening 00:01:27.670 --> 00:01:30.400 align:middle line:84% to hidden sound worlds and the necessity 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.398 align:middle line:84% of double description, that second part of the title, 00:01:33.398 --> 00:01:35.065 align:middle line:84% hopefully, would become clear as I talk. 00:01:35.065 --> 00:01:41.240 align:middle line:90% 00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:43.840 align:middle line:84% This is one of my favorite quotes from one 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.650 align:middle line:84% of my favorite thinkers, Gregory Bateson. 00:01:47.650 --> 00:01:50.110 align:middle line:84% "The richest knowledge of the tree 00:01:50.110 --> 00:01:52.570 align:middle line:90% includes both myth and botany." 00:01:52.570 --> 00:01:56.060 align:middle line:90% 00:01:56.060 --> 00:02:00.350 align:middle line:84% A number of questions are consistent throughout my work. 00:02:00.350 --> 00:02:03.230 align:middle line:84% What does music contribute to our understanding 00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:05.450 align:middle line:90% of the question of mind? 00:02:05.450 --> 00:02:08.840 align:middle line:84% What is accomplished by strengthening our aural sense 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:11.000 align:middle line:84% within a visually dominant culture? 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:14.120 align:middle line:84% What is gained or lost by a shift 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.660 align:middle line:84% towards an oral perception of the world? 00:02:17.660 --> 00:02:21.140 align:middle line:84% How can art participate in the discovery 00:02:21.140 --> 00:02:27.390 align:middle line:84% of solutions that can accelerate or extend those of science? 00:02:27.390 --> 00:02:29.940 align:middle line:84% As a musician, I've witnessed the emergence 00:02:29.940 --> 00:02:33.480 align:middle line:84% of a number of new genre of sonic and musical form 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:34.410 align:middle line:90% and research. 00:02:34.410 --> 00:02:38.340 align:middle line:84% The past decade has seen the formation of biomusicology 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:40.770 align:middle line:84% as a discipline that attempts to clarify 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:44.250 align:middle line:84% our understanding of the biological origins of music. 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:47.970 align:middle line:84% Acoustic ecology aims to understand the integrative role 00:02:47.970 --> 00:02:51.930 align:middle line:84% that sound has in our natural and urban environments. 00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:54.720 align:middle line:84% There is also that vague nimbus of activity 00:02:54.720 --> 00:02:57.780 align:middle line:84% called sound art that focuses upon the creation 00:02:57.780 --> 00:03:00.570 align:middle line:84% of acoustically based art forms that do not 00:03:00.570 --> 00:03:03.210 align:middle line:84% arise from a musical paradigm per se, 00:03:03.210 --> 00:03:07.380 align:middle line:84% such as text sound composition, radio art, gallery, type 00:03:07.380 --> 00:03:09.630 align:middle line:84% installation sound works, and site 00:03:09.630 --> 00:03:12.570 align:middle line:90% specific sound performances. 00:03:12.570 --> 00:03:14.130 align:middle line:84% A subset of this field that concerns 00:03:14.130 --> 00:03:20.130 align:middle line:84% soundscape recording has adopted the term phonography-- 00:03:20.130 --> 00:03:21.870 align:middle line:90% I said that right-- 00:03:21.870 --> 00:03:24.960 align:middle line:90% to distinguish its activities. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:28.050 align:middle line:84% Tangential to these new art genre 00:03:28.050 --> 00:03:30.330 align:middle line:90% have been two areas of science. 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:33.870 align:middle line:84% Bio acoustics studies the sounds made by non-human living 00:03:33.870 --> 00:03:37.080 align:middle line:84% organisms, and scientific sonification, 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:40.140 align:middle line:84% the oral equivalent to computer visualization techniques, 00:03:40.140 --> 00:03:44.280 align:middle line:84% makes data more readily apprehensible through sound. 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:47.220 align:middle line:84% My position is that many of these new fields 00:03:47.220 --> 00:03:49.710 align:middle line:84% are a logical evolution in musical practice 00:03:49.710 --> 00:03:52.530 align:middle line:90% rather than a break with it. 00:03:52.530 --> 00:03:56.190 align:middle line:84% If music in any way reflects the evolving human condition, 00:03:56.190 --> 00:03:58.320 align:middle line:84% then this is what we should have expected music 00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:02.070 align:middle line:90% to become in the 21st century. 00:04:02.070 --> 00:04:06.270 align:middle line:84% While I still predominantly identify myself as a composer, 00:04:06.270 --> 00:04:09.420 align:middle line:84% my work has been associated with all of the fields 00:04:09.420 --> 00:04:12.930 align:middle line:84% in art and science as just described. 00:04:12.930 --> 00:04:15.300 align:middle line:84% My works that span the 1970s and '80s 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:17.790 align:middle line:84% were predominantly site specific performances 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:21.089 align:middle line:84% that used traditional musical instruments, voices, 00:04:21.089 --> 00:04:23.940 align:middle line:84% and electronics to explore interactions 00:04:23.940 --> 00:04:26.070 align:middle line:90% with non-human living systems. 00:04:26.070 --> 00:04:30.000 align:middle line:84% For instance, in 1973, I composed a work for three 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.140 align:middle line:84% trumpets intended to be performed within the interior 00:04:34.140 --> 00:04:35.790 align:middle line:90% of the Grand Canyon. 00:04:35.790 --> 00:04:39.930 align:middle line:84% I think everyone here knows where the Grand Canyon is. 00:04:39.930 --> 00:04:42.840 align:middle line:84% The result was a surprising sonic encounter 00:04:42.840 --> 00:04:46.080 align:middle line:84% between the three trumpets and three ravens 00:04:46.080 --> 00:04:48.510 align:middle line:84% who were attracted to the commotion. 00:04:48.510 --> 00:04:53.460 align:middle line:90% 00:04:53.460 --> 00:04:56.925 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:04:56.925 --> 00:05:59.420 align:middle line:90% 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:03.162 align:middle line:90% [RAVENS CAWWING] 00:06:03.162 --> 00:06:42.346 align:middle line:90% 00:06:42.346 --> 00:06:46.314 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:06:46.314 --> 00:07:17.210 align:middle line:90% 00:07:17.210 --> 00:07:20.930 align:middle line:84% And I'll just mention we never saw the ravens 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:23.210 align:middle line:84% before the trumpet started playing, 00:07:23.210 --> 00:07:25.940 align:middle line:84% and we never saw them again after they stopped. 00:07:25.940 --> 00:07:28.730 align:middle line:90% 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:32.030 align:middle line:84% Here is another brief excerpt dating back to 1976 00:07:32.030 --> 00:07:34.280 align:middle line:84% from one of the earliest experiments in music 00:07:34.280 --> 00:07:38.030 align:middle line:84% as interspecies communication, where artist Ric Cupples and I 00:07:38.030 --> 00:07:40.910 align:middle line:84% were feeding electronic sounds to a wild mockingbird 00:07:40.910 --> 00:07:43.880 align:middle line:84% in order to challenge the bird's innate capacity 00:07:43.880 --> 00:07:47.951 align:middle line:84% to imitate sounds in its environment. 00:07:47.951 --> 00:07:50.933 align:middle line:90% [BIRDS CHIRPING] 00:07:50.933 --> 00:08:01.867 align:middle line:90% 00:08:01.867 --> 00:08:04.849 align:middle line:90% [ELECTRONIC BEEPING] 00:08:04.849 --> 00:09:19.760 align:middle line:90% 00:09:19.760 --> 00:09:22.640 align:middle line:84% Years later now, I think it might have been maybe 00:09:22.640 --> 00:09:24.680 align:middle line:84% more interesting if we tried maybe 00:09:24.680 --> 00:09:28.470 align:middle line:84% Charlie Parker or something else, but at the time, 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:31.010 align:middle line:90% it seemed to-- 00:09:31.010 --> 00:09:33.320 align:middle line:84% starting in the 1990s, my work shifted 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:36.800 align:middle line:84% towards phonographic soundscape recording as an oral equivalent 00:09:36.800 --> 00:09:38.630 align:middle line:90% to visual photography. 00:09:38.630 --> 00:09:42.320 align:middle line:84% It became clear to me that my preferred artistic medium 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:43.730 align:middle line:90% was recorded sound. 00:09:43.730 --> 00:09:45.890 align:middle line:84% And since then, I rarely perform or create 00:09:45.890 --> 00:09:48.150 align:middle line:90% installation-type work. 00:09:48.150 --> 00:09:51.440 align:middle line:84% I also became deeply interested in how art and science can 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.620 align:middle line:84% become more tightly integrated towards seeking solutions 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:57.530 align:middle line:84% to real world environmental problems. 00:09:57.530 --> 00:09:59.960 align:middle line:84% Over the past few years, my creative work and research 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:03.650 align:middle line:84% agenda have focused upon advancing my previous concerns 00:10:03.650 --> 00:10:05.780 align:middle line:90% in new ways. 00:10:05.780 --> 00:10:09.890 align:middle line:84% By the use of the term quote, "double description", 00:10:09.890 --> 00:10:11.540 align:middle line:84% I hoped to not only give reference 00:10:11.540 --> 00:10:13.610 align:middle line:84% to Gregory Bateson's invention of the term, 00:10:13.610 --> 00:10:17.690 align:middle line:84% but also to a densely interwoven set of ideas and artifacts. 00:10:17.690 --> 00:10:20.600 align:middle line:84% Throughout the various aspects of recent research 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:22.430 align:middle line:84% and creative projects, I've tried 00:10:22.430 --> 00:10:24.920 align:middle line:84% to maintain the dual presence of metaphoric 00:10:24.920 --> 00:10:28.580 align:middle line:84% versus mechanistic language representative of the two 00:10:28.580 --> 00:10:31.850 align:middle line:84% different categories of understanding or explanation 00:10:31.850 --> 00:10:35.130 align:middle line:90% called art and science. 00:10:35.130 --> 00:10:37.410 align:middle line:84% Part 1 of a recent research project 00:10:37.410 --> 00:10:40.260 align:middle line:84% uses the metaphoric language of historical reference 00:10:40.260 --> 00:10:43.020 align:middle line:84% and philosophical argument to provide a context 00:10:43.020 --> 00:10:47.370 align:middle line:84% for an accompanying artwork, The Micro Listening Project. 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:50.280 align:middle line:84% That project involves the design and construction 00:10:50.280 --> 00:10:52.470 align:middle line:84% of a family of transducer mechanisms 00:10:52.470 --> 00:10:54.870 align:middle line:84% appropriate for listening to previously 00:10:54.870 --> 00:10:58.110 align:middle line:84% unfamiliar or unknown auditory phenomena 00:10:58.110 --> 00:11:01.210 align:middle line:84% and presents examples of their use. 00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:03.460 align:middle line:84% The text provides a context for this work that 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:05.620 align:middle line:84% places it within the domain of research's 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:08.410 align:middle line:84% artistic cultural practice and intentionally 00:11:08.410 --> 00:11:11.680 align:middle line:84% makes problematic our dominant views about the roles 00:11:11.680 --> 00:11:16.020 align:middle line:84% and relationship between science and art. 00:11:16.020 --> 00:11:20.460 align:middle line:84% Part 2, mechanical communication in bark beetles 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:23.010 align:middle line:84% focuses one of these mechanisms towards hearing 00:11:23.010 --> 00:11:26.310 align:middle line:84% a story in the sense of listening closely 00:11:26.310 --> 00:11:29.790 align:middle line:84% to what one small part of the natural world can engender 00:11:29.790 --> 00:11:32.880 align:middle line:84% and then attempts to explain it through the mechanistic 00:11:32.880 --> 00:11:35.610 align:middle line:90% language of scientific method. 00:11:35.610 --> 00:11:38.070 align:middle line:84% The accompanying paper on the mechanical communication 00:11:38.070 --> 00:11:40.350 align:middle line:84% of bark and ambrosia beetles conceived 00:11:40.350 --> 00:11:43.290 align:middle line:84% within the formal frame of a scientific research paper 00:11:43.290 --> 00:11:46.980 align:middle line:84% can be more clearly understood as one part of a larger process 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:50.110 align:middle line:90% of artistic intervention. 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:53.740 align:middle line:84% Part 3, biological autonomy as a model for autonomous 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:57.820 align:middle line:84% audio devices begins a process of leaping towards a meta 00:11:57.820 --> 00:11:59.830 align:middle line:84% level, where the design of artifacts 00:11:59.830 --> 00:12:03.190 align:middle line:84% occurs with consideration to their dual status 00:12:03.190 --> 00:12:06.460 align:middle line:84% as both metaphors and mechanisms. 00:12:06.460 --> 00:12:09.850 align:middle line:84% Autonomous audio devices are put forth, not so much 00:12:09.850 --> 00:12:12.970 align:middle line:84% to illustrate a comprehensive methodology for reconciling 00:12:12.970 --> 00:12:17.050 align:middle line:84% the cultures of art and science as one instance where they can 00:12:17.050 --> 00:12:20.470 align:middle line:84% be seen to become congruent without losing their identities 00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:22.750 align:middle line:90% in each separate domain. 00:12:22.750 --> 00:12:25.360 align:middle line:84% This final section sets forth the barest glimpse 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:30.130 align:middle line:84% of a vision for a middle path, where rigor and imagination 00:12:30.130 --> 00:12:32.950 align:middle line:84% are merely shades within an integrated spectrum 00:12:32.950 --> 00:12:36.190 align:middle line:90% of human perception and action. 00:12:36.190 --> 00:12:38.920 align:middle line:84% These devices directly emanate from my experience 00:12:38.920 --> 00:12:41.920 align:middle line:84% of soundscape recording and represent a highly abstract 00:12:41.920 --> 00:12:44.860 align:middle line:84% description of such complex natural sound worlds, 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.470 align:middle line:84% while also serving as instrumentation 00:12:47.470 --> 00:12:50.590 align:middle line:90% for scientific research. 00:12:50.590 --> 00:12:54.520 align:middle line:84% Here are some brief examples of sound recordings 00:12:54.520 --> 00:12:56.530 align:middle line:84% from my recent work that were made using 00:12:56.530 --> 00:12:58.930 align:middle line:90% four of my transducer systems. 00:12:58.930 --> 00:13:04.450 align:middle line:84% One, the strident scratching of ants communicating deep 00:13:04.450 --> 00:13:06.950 align:middle line:90% in their underground nest. 00:13:06.950 --> 00:13:10.380 align:middle line:90% [SCRATCHING] 00:13:10.380 --> 00:13:29.020 align:middle line:90% 00:13:29.020 --> 00:13:29.995 align:middle line:90% That's one ant. 00:13:29.995 --> 00:13:32.730 align:middle line:90% [SCRATCHING] 00:13:32.730 --> 00:13:53.066 align:middle line:90% 00:13:53.066 --> 00:13:54.580 align:middle line:90% [BIRD CAWWING] 00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:55.434 align:middle line:90% That's not an ant. 00:13:55.434 --> 00:13:55.934 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:13:55.934 --> 00:13:58.354 align:middle line:90% [SCRATCHING] 00:13:58.354 --> 00:14:03.678 align:middle line:90% 00:14:03.678 --> 00:14:06.582 align:middle line:90% [BIRD CAWWING] 00:14:06.582 --> 00:14:10.470 align:middle line:90% 00:14:10.470 --> 00:14:13.530 align:middle line:84% Two, the frantic underwater communications 00:14:13.530 --> 00:14:17.610 align:middle line:84% of tiny invertebrate life forms in freshwater ponds. 00:14:17.610 --> 00:14:19.380 align:middle line:84% These kinds of sounds are to be found 00:14:19.380 --> 00:14:21.960 align:middle line:84% within a vast variety of ponds and lake sides 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:23.350 align:middle line:90% all over the world. 00:14:23.350 --> 00:14:25.860 align:middle line:84% We know very little about the sources for these sounds 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:29.700 align:middle line:84% except they are very soft, require hydrophones, 00:14:29.700 --> 00:14:32.850 align:middle line:84% underwater microphones, and tremendous amplification 00:14:32.850 --> 00:14:35.460 align:middle line:84% to bring them to our ears since they are otherwise 00:14:35.460 --> 00:14:36.900 align:middle line:90% inaudible to human hearing. 00:14:36.900 --> 00:14:41.154 align:middle line:90% 00:14:41.154 --> 00:14:44.640 align:middle line:90% [BEETLES WHIZZING] 00:14:44.640 --> 00:16:57.840 align:middle line:90% 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:01.740 align:middle line:84% Three, the eerie ultrasonic echolocation bursts 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:04.560 align:middle line:84% of many different species of bats flying 00:17:04.560 --> 00:17:06.750 align:middle line:90% over a Mexican river at night. 00:17:06.750 --> 00:17:11.230 align:middle line:84% Frequency shifted down into our human hearing range. 00:17:11.230 --> 00:17:13.060 align:middle line:84% There are also the ultrasonic croaks 00:17:13.060 --> 00:17:16.780 align:middle line:84% of small unidentified toads, possibly the first recordings 00:17:16.780 --> 00:17:20.140 align:middle line:84% made of what may be the first amphibian species discovered 00:17:20.140 --> 00:17:25.839 align:middle line:84% in the Western hemisphere to communicate ultrasonically. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:29.325 align:middle line:90% [BATS ECHOLOCATING] 00:17:29.325 --> 00:18:39.680 align:middle line:90% 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:44.000 align:middle line:84% And finally, four, the chirping and scraping of tiny beetles 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.450 align:middle line:84% chewing through the inner bark of pine trees. 00:18:47.450 --> 00:18:50.510 align:middle line:84% These were the first recordings of bark beetles ever made 00:18:50.510 --> 00:18:54.140 align:middle line:84% in actual forest conditions within the interior of a living 00:18:54.140 --> 00:18:55.116 align:middle line:90% tree. 00:18:55.116 --> 00:18:58.588 align:middle line:90% [BEETLES CHIRPING] 00:18:58.588 --> 00:20:09.560 align:middle line:90% 00:20:09.560 --> 00:20:13.100 align:middle line:84% Another sound example illustrates the audio behaviors 00:20:13.100 --> 00:20:15.050 align:middle line:84% of my autonomous circuits as a means 00:20:15.050 --> 00:20:18.650 align:middle line:84% to directly experience the kinds of non-linear chaotic change 00:20:18.650 --> 00:20:21.920 align:middle line:84% that underlies so much of the natural world. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:23.780 align:middle line:84% The sounds produced by these circuits 00:20:23.780 --> 00:20:26.660 align:middle line:84% based on principles of biological autonomy 00:20:26.660 --> 00:20:28.820 align:middle line:84% are not only intended as sonic structures 00:20:28.820 --> 00:20:31.220 align:middle line:84% to be experienced as auditory art, 00:20:31.220 --> 00:20:33.650 align:middle line:84% they are also part of an experimental strategy being 00:20:33.650 --> 00:20:36.530 align:middle line:84% pursued by Richard Hofstadter and Regan Maguire 00:20:36.530 --> 00:20:39.140 align:middle line:84% at Northern Arizona University to interfere 00:20:39.140 --> 00:20:41.090 align:middle line:84% with the communication of invertebrates, 00:20:41.090 --> 00:20:44.690 align:middle line:84% such as the invasive bark beetles that you just heard. 00:20:44.690 --> 00:20:47.270 align:middle line:84% The hope is that judiciously applied 00:20:47.270 --> 00:20:50.690 align:middle line:84% sound can be used as an insect control mechanism, where 00:20:50.690 --> 00:20:52.400 align:middle line:90% nothing else has worked. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:56.450 align:middle line:84% Initial tests have yielded some extraordinary results, 00:20:56.450 --> 00:20:58.650 align:middle line:84% and I wish I could tell you more, 00:20:58.650 --> 00:21:04.010 align:middle line:84% but we're about to file a provisional patent, which 00:21:04.010 --> 00:21:07.550 align:middle line:84% constrains my ability to talk about it, 00:21:07.550 --> 00:21:12.470 align:middle line:84% but suffice to say it seems to work. 00:21:12.470 --> 00:21:15.752 align:middle line:90% 00:21:15.752 --> 00:21:19.231 align:middle line:90% [ROARING NOISE] 00:21:19.231 --> 00:22:22.620 align:middle line:90% 00:22:22.620 --> 00:22:25.067 align:middle line:90% Show of hands, how many-- 00:22:25.067 --> 00:22:27.150 align:middle line:84% if you heard that-- would drive you out of a tree? 00:22:27.150 --> 00:22:29.630 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:22:29.630 --> 00:22:31.040 align:middle line:90% OK, good. 00:22:31.040 --> 00:22:32.520 align:middle line:90% Good. 00:22:32.520 --> 00:22:33.645 align:middle line:90% This is all useful data. 00:22:33.645 --> 00:22:37.270 align:middle line:90% 00:22:37.270 --> 00:22:39.150 align:middle line:84% So at this point, I think it appropriate 00:22:39.150 --> 00:22:41.730 align:middle line:84% that I allow you to hear a more extended example of some 00:22:41.730 --> 00:22:44.250 align:middle line:84% of the even more controversial aspects of my work 00:22:44.250 --> 00:22:47.310 align:middle line:84% that combine many of the different issues and concerns 00:22:47.310 --> 00:22:48.450 align:middle line:90% that I've been discussing. 00:22:48.450 --> 00:22:51.450 align:middle line:84% Here is an extended sample of a project 00:22:51.450 --> 00:22:54.570 align:middle line:84% called Autonomous Systems, Red Rocks, 00:22:54.570 --> 00:22:56.970 align:middle line:84% where the concepts of self-organizing systems 00:22:56.970 --> 00:23:00.150 align:middle line:84% in biological autonomy have been applied to the real time 00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:05.520 align:middle line:84% interaction between artificial and natural non-human systems. 00:23:05.520 --> 00:23:10.230 align:middle line:84% A computer program associated-- and associated sound system 00:23:10.230 --> 00:23:13.170 align:middle line:84% respond to the sounds of a wetlands habitat, 00:23:13.170 --> 00:23:15.600 align:middle line:84% each pursuing autonomous behaviors 00:23:15.600 --> 00:23:17.970 align:middle line:84% that are perturbed and influenced 00:23:17.970 --> 00:23:23.100 align:middle line:84% by each other in a kind of cybernetic dialogue. 00:23:23.100 --> 00:23:26.626 align:middle line:90% This is for a few minutes. 00:23:26.626 --> 00:23:30.119 align:middle line:90% [HIGH PITCHED BEEPING] 00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:58.562 align:middle line:90% 00:23:58.562 --> 00:24:02.554 align:middle line:90% [HIGH PITCHED WHIRRING] 00:24:02.554 --> 00:27:53.355 align:middle line:90% 00:27:53.355 --> 00:27:54.730 align:middle line:84% And one of the interesting things 00:27:54.730 --> 00:27:56.950 align:middle line:84% about these sorts of experiments is 00:27:56.950 --> 00:27:59.290 align:middle line:84% that I think one assumes that they'd 00:27:59.290 --> 00:28:03.970 align:middle line:84% function as sonic tear gas to drive everything away, 00:28:03.970 --> 00:28:05.590 align:middle line:84% and actually, the opposite happens. 00:28:05.590 --> 00:28:08.440 align:middle line:84% That things begin to accommodate, not only become 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:10.450 align:middle line:84% accommodate to the fabric that's created, 00:28:10.450 --> 00:28:11.800 align:middle line:90% but also become curious. 00:28:11.800 --> 00:28:14.890 align:middle line:84% And over time, the longer this played, actually the more 00:28:14.890 --> 00:28:17.350 align:middle line:84% activity and the closer the wildlife 00:28:17.350 --> 00:28:19.780 align:middle line:84% actually came to these electronic sources that 00:28:19.780 --> 00:28:21.460 align:middle line:84% were obviously seeing quite foreign 00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:22.720 align:middle line:90% to their actual environment. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:26.920 align:middle line:90% 00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:28.680 align:middle line:84% So I'm just going to talk now a bit 00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:31.830 align:middle line:84% about these current projects that I'm engaged in, 00:28:31.830 --> 00:28:33.990 align:middle line:84% some of which are very recent and some of which 00:28:33.990 --> 00:28:36.487 align:middle line:84% are quite ongoing over a period of years, 00:28:36.487 --> 00:28:38.070 align:middle line:84% but they're the things that are really 00:28:38.070 --> 00:28:41.330 align:middle line:90% concerning me at the moment. 00:28:41.330 --> 00:28:43.040 align:middle line:84% I'm currently fulfilling a commission 00:28:43.040 --> 00:28:45.320 align:middle line:84% from the Kyoto City University of the Arts 00:28:45.320 --> 00:28:47.300 align:middle line:84% to create a sound installation that 00:28:47.300 --> 00:28:50.420 align:middle line:84% celebrates the Centennial of the completion of the canal that 00:28:50.420 --> 00:28:53.900 align:middle line:84% links Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake, 00:28:53.900 --> 00:28:57.890 align:middle line:84% to Kyoto, providing the city's primary water supply. 00:28:57.890 --> 00:29:01.070 align:middle line:84% The canal passes through a mountain range to connect 00:29:01.070 --> 00:29:03.590 align:middle line:84% to the [INAUDIBLE- ? Heian ?] Jingu shrine, 00:29:03.590 --> 00:29:07.280 align:middle line:84% where the extensive pond system preserves aspects of the 19th 00:29:07.280 --> 00:29:10.580 align:middle line:84% century ecology and helps to preserve several endangered 00:29:10.580 --> 00:29:11.810 align:middle line:90% species. 00:29:11.810 --> 00:29:14.870 align:middle line:84% The installation will make use of underwater sounds drawn 00:29:14.870 --> 00:29:17.180 align:middle line:84% from both the lake and the pond system 00:29:17.180 --> 00:29:20.480 align:middle line:84% in order to emphasize the city's dependency upon its surrounding 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:22.430 align:middle line:90% natural resources. 00:29:22.430 --> 00:29:25.280 align:middle line:84% Here is an example of the underwater world 00:29:25.280 --> 00:29:28.040 align:middle line:84% of the [INAUDIBLE-- ? Heian?] ] Jingu shrine, where koi, 00:29:28.040 --> 00:29:31.880 align:middle line:84% fingerlings, and various invertebrates live. 00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:35.420 align:middle line:84% Combined with the ultrasonic components of the above water 00:29:35.420 --> 00:29:38.930 align:middle line:84% world, birds, footsteps, and wind chimes 00:29:38.930 --> 00:29:42.350 align:middle line:84% slowed to be audible within the human hearing range, 00:29:42.350 --> 00:29:45.515 align:middle line:84% they take on the mysterious quality of gagaku music. 00:29:45.515 --> 00:29:49.316 align:middle line:90% 00:29:49.316 --> 00:29:52.802 align:middle line:90% [DRIPPING] 00:29:52.802 --> 00:31:30.908 align:middle line:90% 00:31:30.908 --> 00:31:34.892 align:middle line:90% [NOTES PLAYING] 00:31:34.892 --> 00:34:35.560 align:middle line:90% 00:34:35.560 --> 00:34:38.530 align:middle line:84% My fascination with the world of sound assumed 00:34:38.530 --> 00:34:42.250 align:middle line:84% to be beyond human perception has been a recurrent interest 00:34:42.250 --> 00:34:44.420 align:middle line:90% over the past several years. 00:34:44.420 --> 00:34:46.360 align:middle line:84% Besides the revelation of sounds made 00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:49.810 align:middle line:84% by a rich diversity of non-human living systems, 00:34:49.810 --> 00:34:51.940 align:middle line:84% I've been tracking the surprising occurrence 00:34:51.940 --> 00:34:56.650 align:middle line:84% of intense ultrasonic sources that fill our human world 00:34:56.650 --> 00:34:58.570 align:middle line:84% and most likely affect our bodies 00:34:58.570 --> 00:35:01.940 align:middle line:84% and confusing and destructive ways. 00:35:01.940 --> 00:35:05.770 align:middle line:84% Here are the ultrasonic sounds of life support systems. 00:35:05.770 --> 00:35:09.040 align:middle line:84% Other machinery and a television set 00:35:09.040 --> 00:35:11.800 align:middle line:84% in a typical hospital room brought down 00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:13.680 align:middle line:90% into our hearing range. 00:35:13.680 --> 00:35:17.680 align:middle line:90% [LOW FREQUENCY BEEP] 00:35:17.680 --> 00:35:33.180 align:middle line:90% 00:35:33.180 --> 00:35:34.770 align:middle line:84% The low frequency sounds that you 00:35:34.770 --> 00:35:38.980 align:middle line:90% hear are the television set. 00:35:38.980 --> 00:35:39.980 align:middle line:90% I think it was a sitcom. 00:35:39.980 --> 00:35:43.298 align:middle line:90% [LOW FREQUENCY BEEP] 00:35:43.298 --> 00:36:15.890 align:middle line:90% 00:36:15.890 --> 00:36:19.760 align:middle line:84% Next are the ultrasonic sounds of a classroom, 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:22.070 align:middle line:84% with the whirring of multiple computers shifted 00:36:22.070 --> 00:36:23.930 align:middle line:90% into our hearing range. 00:36:23.930 --> 00:36:27.050 align:middle line:84% The changing low frequency sound is that of the teacher's voice. 00:36:27.050 --> 00:36:29.930 align:middle line:84% You can gauge the relative amplitude of it 00:36:29.930 --> 00:36:32.270 align:middle line:84% to the other sounds that are thought 00:36:32.270 --> 00:36:35.120 align:middle line:84% to be outside of the domain of our perception. 00:36:35.120 --> 00:36:37.370 align:middle line:84% The problem is that recent research 00:36:37.370 --> 00:36:39.830 align:middle line:84% shows that we do unconsciously perceive 00:36:39.830 --> 00:36:43.130 align:middle line:84% these sounds through facial fluid channels and upper body 00:36:43.130 --> 00:36:46.730 align:middle line:84% tissues, just not through our ears. 00:36:46.730 --> 00:36:50.570 align:middle line:84% Furthermore, we know that such sounds at sufficient amplitude 00:36:50.570 --> 00:36:53.921 align:middle line:90% can damage neural tissue. 00:36:53.921 --> 00:36:57.400 align:middle line:90% [LOW FREQUENCY WHIRRING] 00:36:57.400 --> 00:38:15.520 align:middle line:90% 00:38:15.520 --> 00:38:18.640 align:middle line:84% I'm gonna give you one final ultrasound example that returns 00:38:18.640 --> 00:38:20.920 align:middle line:90% us to the non-human world. 00:38:20.920 --> 00:38:23.830 align:middle line:84% These bat sounds were recorded in a New Mexico canyon 00:38:23.830 --> 00:38:27.130 align:middle line:84% after nightfall when the bats were emerging from their caves 00:38:27.130 --> 00:38:29.920 align:middle line:84% and rock crevices to hunt insects with their echolocation 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:31.120 align:middle line:90% bursts. 00:38:31.120 --> 00:38:34.450 align:middle line:84% Our co-evolution with these second most numerous mammals 00:38:34.450 --> 00:38:37.870 align:middle line:84% on Earth might explain why humans do not perceive 00:38:37.870 --> 00:38:40.040 align:middle line:90% ultrasound through our ears. 00:38:40.040 --> 00:38:44.770 align:middle line:84% These echolocation bursts are so loud that many species of bats 00:38:44.770 --> 00:38:48.190 align:middle line:84% have autonomic shutters on their ears to protect them 00:38:48.190 --> 00:38:50.290 align:middle line:90% from their own sounds. 00:38:50.290 --> 00:38:53.530 align:middle line:84% If we had to consciously listen to these sounds all night, 00:38:53.530 --> 00:38:55.630 align:middle line:90% we might never have slept. 00:38:55.630 --> 00:38:57.640 align:middle line:84% Or worse, our ears might have been 00:38:57.640 --> 00:39:00.070 align:middle line:84% damaged by the constant auditory barrage 00:39:00.070 --> 00:39:03.316 align:middle line:90% of these omnipresent creatures. 00:39:03.316 --> 00:39:06.760 align:middle line:90% [CHIRPING] 00:39:06.760 --> 00:41:43.241 align:middle line:90% 00:41:43.241 --> 00:41:46.235 align:middle line:90% [CHIRPING] 00:41:46.235 --> 00:43:40.380 align:middle line:90% 00:43:40.380 --> 00:43:45.390 align:middle line:84% So given the avalanche of messages that we are now 00:43:45.390 --> 00:43:47.910 align:middle line:84% receiving from the Earth in the form 00:43:47.910 --> 00:43:51.720 align:middle line:84% of disrupted natural cycles, human overpopulation, 00:43:51.720 --> 00:43:55.500 align:middle line:84% increasing natural disasters, unprecedented collapse 00:43:55.500 --> 00:43:58.620 align:middle line:84% of biological diversity, global climate change 00:43:58.620 --> 00:44:01.830 align:middle line:84% and atmospheric destruction, et cetera, 00:44:01.830 --> 00:44:03.510 align:middle line:84% it seems apparent that we are truly 00:44:03.510 --> 00:44:04.890 align:middle line:84% beginning to pass through the eye 00:44:04.890 --> 00:44:07.350 align:middle line:90% of the environmental needle. 00:44:07.350 --> 00:44:10.890 align:middle line:84% Since it is the essential nature of non-linear chaotic change 00:44:10.890 --> 00:44:14.580 align:middle line:84% to be unpredictable, no one can foresee the exact outcome 00:44:14.580 --> 00:44:18.570 align:middle line:84% of the changes that we are beginning to bear witness to. 00:44:18.570 --> 00:44:21.210 align:middle line:84% Underlying all of this project is a polemic 00:44:21.210 --> 00:44:24.300 align:middle line:84% that argues for the necessity of an oral art form 00:44:24.300 --> 00:44:27.780 align:middle line:84% that positions itself within a discourse between art 00:44:27.780 --> 00:44:30.270 align:middle line:84% and science and where the non-human living 00:44:30.270 --> 00:44:34.760 align:middle line:84% world consequently takes center stage. 00:44:34.760 --> 00:44:36.860 align:middle line:84% Ultimately, I hope that my work highlights 00:44:36.860 --> 00:44:40.220 align:middle line:84% an essential question, can art participate 00:44:40.220 --> 00:44:43.700 align:middle line:84% in the discovery of solutions that can accelerate or extend 00:44:43.700 --> 00:44:45.620 align:middle line:90% those of science? 00:44:45.620 --> 00:44:48.110 align:middle line:84% This requires a merger of art and science 00:44:48.110 --> 00:44:51.020 align:middle line:84% that places the human back into a measured position 00:44:51.020 --> 00:44:53.690 align:middle line:84% within the biotic world and encourages 00:44:53.690 --> 00:44:56.360 align:middle line:84% both to contribute to a collective environmental 00:44:56.360 --> 00:44:58.370 align:middle line:90% activism. 00:44:58.370 --> 00:45:01.190 align:middle line:84% While the art world needs to ground imagination 00:45:01.190 --> 00:45:04.100 align:middle line:84% in a deeper understanding of the natural world, 00:45:04.100 --> 00:45:06.920 align:middle line:84% science needs to reach out beyond the desiccation 00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:09.410 align:middle line:84% of professional constraints in order 00:45:09.410 --> 00:45:14.010 align:middle line:84% to transform the epistemic errors of the world at large. 00:45:14.010 --> 00:45:17.550 align:middle line:84% Together, they need to understand and embrace 00:45:17.550 --> 00:45:22.020 align:middle line:84% the continuity of human and non-human communication 00:45:22.020 --> 00:45:25.320 align:middle line:84% as essential components of the complex networks 00:45:25.320 --> 00:45:29.700 align:middle line:84% from which both perception and evolution arise. 00:45:29.700 --> 00:45:36.650 align:middle line:84% Perhaps, once again, Gregory Bateson said it best. 00:45:36.650 --> 00:45:40.250 align:middle line:90% "Rigor alone is paralytic death. 00:45:40.250 --> 00:45:44.110 align:middle line:90% Imagination alone is insanity." 00:45:44.110 --> 00:45:47.000 align:middle line:90%