Greetings:
This piece is an attempt to reflect how we might approach the challenge of teaching
climate change to a skeptical public. The following are three rough sketches
of possible sound installations through which we would hope to communicate the
possible threats to the northern eco-region. The first two pieces demonstrate
the problem of individual perception in the face of large global processes,
and the difficulty of synthesizing information from different, sometimes conflicting,
sources. The final exhibit approaches this problem more impressionistically
through a sound art piece assembled from field recordings. These three exhibits
(represented by the three tracks on the CD provided) could be used individually
or together, depending on the venues and resources available.
1. SHIFTING TONES
We envision an exhibit consisting of two speakers. One speaker plays a constant tone, while the other plays a tone that ascends at a glacially slow pace. Though they are indistinguishable at first, as time elapses the difference between the two becomes apparent by the oscillating distortion patterns created in the ears of the audience members. This exhibit reflects the difficulties of perceiving the phenomenon of global warming, and of interpreting data over long stretches of time.
2. WHITE WATER
This exhibit would consist of two television monitors facing a wall opposite the viewer while the sound of rushing water is heard. While both televisions will cast a blue tint on the wall facing them, a closer inspection will reveal that one is playing a video of rushing water, while the other is playing nothing but static (the sounds of which are virtually indistinguishable.) This exhibit reflects the difficulties of distinguishing between truth and fabrication when one's senses are overloaded with information.
3. PASTICHE
This exhibit would be a sound collage of 'real world music' assembled from
field recordings, which capture the complexities of the northwoods environment.
The "Pastiche" piece included in our sample was assembled from many
hours of research and travel on and around Lake Michigan in Wisconsin and Illinois
(a brief explanation of each sound source in the work can be found below). In
the four months following the conference, we would complete a collage with a
similar sampling of field recordings from the northwoods, creating an audible
portrait of the nature, industry, and humanity that comprises it. A
set of digital images can accompany the collage, as a visual tie-in.
Sound Sources:
· Oak Creek Wisconsin, Oak Creek Coal Plant.
· Milwaukee Wisconsin, An elegant walleye fish dinner in a lakeside restaurant.
· Chicago IL, Grocery Store - Ordering fish at the produce counter.
· Calumet IL, Dominion Power Co. - A large flock of birds take refuge
at waters edge.
· Woodridge IL - Small manmade pond in a housing subdivision.
· Calumet IL, Eggers Grove - A lakeside forest reclaimed from swamp with
steel slag dross.
· Single-Family Apartment, The noises of water consumption.
· Calumet IL, Beaubien Woods - A neglected forest riddled with encroachment.
· Calumet River, Elevating Road Bridge - A bustling panorama of the steel
industry at work.
· Calumet IL, Ford Motor Company Complex - Attempts to restore Indian
Creek Marsh.
View a web photo gallery of the recording locations: click here
Joshua Manchester and Brian Trump
Download our music here: Shifting Tones 20:00 .mp3 /// White Water 3:00 .mp3 /// Pastiche 10:00 .mp3