Tag Archives: ecology

Sonic Ecologies

The field of ecology is one of nature and ecosystems. It is a field of interconnectedness, sensitivity and presence. It is a lense that anything in existence can be analysed through. Ecology is simply the analysis of the relationships of any given thing to the environment in which it lives or exists in.

Jonathan Gillmurray looks into “ecological sound art” as a field of study. He makes the claim that environmentalism in sound art isn’t as recognised as it is in other art forms, and wants to make a case for ecological sound art to stand as its own distinct field outside of other ecological art practices and saound art istelf. He thinks of ecological sound art as specifically concerned with environmental issues. Whilst there is a “clear innaction” against the worsening environmental issues the earth faces, Bill McKibben noted back in 2005 that art and religion are mediums that humans truky digest, so to talk about issues and implement change, they must be adressed through these mediums, particuarly art.

So if ecological sound art specifically regards the state of our natural environment, then it must use these environments within the art. Perhaps this is why environmentalist art is often referred to as “land art”, as it is quite litteraly art made from the land. Gillmurray points to a growth in texts surrounding environmental discourse leading to a growth in the art based around these issues. The symbiosis of environmental academia and art can be seen in the field of ecomusicology, which concerns music, culture and nature. Gillmurray notes than sound art is not recognised within the field of ecomusicology. But why can’t it be? Gillmurray suggests that perhaps the term “music” within ecomusicoloy is too narrowing. But isn’t music a part of sound art, and would that not therefore mean that sound art could be one lense to anaylse culture and nature within ecomusicology? It feels as though sound art wants its own seperate validation and pushes itself out of broader art fields, rather than those art fields pushing away sound art. Because at the end of the day, what even is sound art? If we prescribe certain attributes to the meaning of sound art such as “art that contains sounds but cannot be too musical” or “art that contains visuals but cannot be too focussed on the visual”, it gives sound art a sense of elitism and pushes away artists from considering their art as part of this field. These attributes are essentially what Gillmurray is prescribing to sound art when he claims that it is not “musical enough” nor “visual enough” to be included within ecomusicology.

Perhaps the entire argument Gillmurray presents here in this article is based on personal feeling about what sound art means to him. Personally, reading his article affirmed to me how much a part of ecomusicology sound art is, and how interwined sound art is with every realm of the art world.

Being in El Salvador, a country built on volcanic land, preserving many of its indigineous traditions, I have been inspired to create what I would consider to be ecological sound art. Using field recordings taken (so far) from the top of the volcano using both the stero recorder and a contact microphone, I have begun creating music that will be scored to the visuals for my second Happiness Starts with Dancing film, Happiness Starts with Home. It is important for me to be able to construct the sounds made using sounds from the land, meaning I am quite litteraly making “land art”. The sounds I am creating are quite musical- they are inspired by the musical soundscape of El Salvador (Cumbia, Merengue), but perhaps according to Gillmurray, this would therefore make my art not be sound art, as it is too musical. Perhaps in that sense then, according to Gillmurray, I am not a sound artist, as I do not want to create sounds that leave the listener in a state of anxiety or clulessness. I want my sounds to provide a sense of safety and familiarity- a sense of home.

Introduction to Reading + Writing

I would like to base my research around the inaccessibility of academia, and how this restricts the topics which are recognised within the realm of sound art. I am going to research recognised DIY practices in the realm of sound art in comparison to DIY cultures in the world of dance music to show the latter as a valid sound art. To be able to tackle this topic, an understanding of DIY cultures, how academia becomes recognised as such, and the political landscape of educational institutions will be of importance. 

I believe this is an important topic to research due to a number of reasons. The main reason is because of my recent realisation that my practices within the dance music world may be seen as a novelty; the cultural implications of being a DJ takes this practice very far away from an academic context. Perhaps this is because the literature surrounding dance music culture and the practice of DJing focuses on the cultural history, particularly pertaining to its strong association with drugs and free party culture (for the most part). Authors such as Simon Reynolds have played a part in tackling this lack of knowledge surrounding dance music culture, with his detailed Energy Flash being one the texts I will use in reference when writing the essay. Perhaps though, this only makes speaking on this topic important for myself and my ego. Something else I hold of importance within work I create is to create a sense of interconnectedness and community. It would therefore be important to analyse this topic from an ecological standpoint, ecology in sound art therefore needing to be understood.

So the initial building of this essay will be based on texts surrounding DIY cultures, dance music and ecology. I have therefore identified Riot Grrrl, Energy Flash, and Ecology without Nature as my initial chosen texts. However, these texts will not provide insight into the main topic of my essay, which is the innaccessibility of academia. A text that I have identified to gain an understanding of the problemetising of academia is Dark Academia: How Universities Die by Peter Fleming. Hopefully through analysing these initial texts, I will be able to gain an understanding of what the actual issues are within academia which classifies it as a restrictive field, and how these relate to dance music and DIY cultures, and will therefore be able to build a solid question that my essay will respond to.