Sub_Merge

Abstract

This work takes as its starting point recorded sounds and measurements of water from North America, the Arctic, and Antarctica. Using field recordings, data measurements, and multiple temporalities as a factor for composition, we decode the recordings and measurements to make audible the various forms of ecological memory and story held within water. These include water quality data, sea-ice thickness, glacial weather data, and recordings made underwater and on the land.  

Sub_Merge is a space and time for active listening consistent with a meditative practice, a mediation on the collective experiences possible within water. The embedded performance creates a boundary for shared listening, while the 6-channel installation is amorphous, unfolding over the 12-hour installation - a timescale allowing for engaged listener participation.

Sub_Merge is a speculative soundscape for listeners to emerge with stories and new understandings of water in all its myriad forms. It creates a new collective listening experience built from an historical record of water’s Listening Pasts, and new knowledge for Listening Futures, from the memories held within water.