Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CoL (Climates of Listening: Amplifying Pacific Experiences of Environmental Crisis)
Reporting period: 2021-03-17 to 2023-03-16
Contemporary climate research is struggling to connect with, and communicate, lived experiences of frontline communities to local and global audiences. There is a strong need to centre research methods and forms of communication that are culturally appropriate, that are collaborative and co-designed and that are able to transmit complex information in diverse and creative ways.
Climates of Listening: Amplifying Pacific Experiences of Environmental Crisis (CoL) is the first practice-led research project to use sound and listening as a framework for expanding understandings of Indigenous Pacific human-environmental relations in the face of rapid ecosystemic transformation. Sonic practices such as storytelling, poetry, singing, music and listening are widely used in Pacific cultures to connect to, make sense of, and communicate knowledge about, the world. Drawing on these practices, this project innovates an interdisciplinary "sonic geography" to help scholars and advocates better conceive of the holistic, multifarious and hyperlocalised ways that environmental crisis is felt and attended to. In doing so, it expands existing literature beyond narratives of "vulnerability" and "resilience", and problematises the politics of representation and translation of Indigenous Pacific experiences into Western ideas and knowledges.
It is critical for audiences to access and understand the experiences of frontline communities in their own voices and in their own words. By connecting to sound and listening, this project approaches the relationships Pacific communities hold to environments in ways that foreground the dynamic and spiritual kinships that form the basis of Pacific culture and Pacific responses to climatic change. Through sound and listening, audiences are invited into the day to day practices and experiences of Pacific communities addressing the ongoing impacts of colonisation and how these are exacerbating changes that affect land and marine subsistence, health, economics and social livelihoods.
The overall objectives of the project are to 1) consolidate ethnographic material from five frontline Pacific Island sites as a foundation for understanding and communicating Pacific Indigenous-environmental relations 2) to work with Pacific partners to ensure that the way the material is used is following ethical and cultural protocols 3) to communicate this material through written and artistic forms, including publications, original sound art pieces and a research exhibition and 4) to train scholars, artists and advocates in listening methods for environmental research.
Climates of Listening: Amplifying Pacific Experiences of Environmental Crisis (CoL) is the first practice-led research project to use sound and listening as a framework for expanding understandings of Indigenous Pacific human-environmental relations in the face of rapid ecosystemic transformation. Sonic practices such as storytelling, poetry, singing, music and listening are widely used in Pacific cultures to connect to, make sense of, and communicate knowledge about, the world. Drawing on these practices, this project innovates an interdisciplinary "sonic geography" to help scholars and advocates better conceive of the holistic, multifarious and hyperlocalised ways that environmental crisis is felt and attended to. In doing so, it expands existing literature beyond narratives of "vulnerability" and "resilience", and problematises the politics of representation and translation of Indigenous Pacific experiences into Western ideas and knowledges.
It is critical for audiences to access and understand the experiences of frontline communities in their own voices and in their own words. By connecting to sound and listening, this project approaches the relationships Pacific communities hold to environments in ways that foreground the dynamic and spiritual kinships that form the basis of Pacific culture and Pacific responses to climatic change. Through sound and listening, audiences are invited into the day to day practices and experiences of Pacific communities addressing the ongoing impacts of colonisation and how these are exacerbating changes that affect land and marine subsistence, health, economics and social livelihoods.
The overall objectives of the project are to 1) consolidate ethnographic material from five frontline Pacific Island sites as a foundation for understanding and communicating Pacific Indigenous-environmental relations 2) to work with Pacific partners to ensure that the way the material is used is following ethical and cultural protocols 3) to communicate this material through written and artistic forms, including publications, original sound art pieces and a research exhibition and 4) to train scholars, artists and advocates in listening methods for environmental research.
The work performed up until the reporting period has encompassed several work packages including the undertaking of archival research (WP1); the production of a series of sound art pieces in consultation with Pacific research participants exploring the intersections of global environmental change and listening in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Kiribati (WP2); the production of a Climates of Listening Research Exhibition which has entailed researching, experimenting with and producing a research exhibition that uncovers the representational challenges associated with ‘sounding’ Pacific Indigenous cultures (WP3); the production of research publications, conference papers (WP4); the organisation and leading of research workshops (WP5); and management and training activities through mentorship and teaching (WP6)
The main outputs achieved so far are as follows:
WP2 The production of three sound art documentaries for transmission on Germany's national radio station, Deutschlandradio
WP3 The piloting and planned exhibition of Climates of Listening Research Exhibition under the title “Listening across Faultlines: Stories of Oceanic Life” (co-produced with Fijian collaborators Eliki Reade and Mere Nailatikau). A residency period of May 15th -May 31st to develop the work will be undertaken, with a pilot exhibition included in this time. The final exhibition will run from August 23rd-27th 2023.
WP4 The invited presentation of work as keynote research at three national and international conferences. The publication of one research article for the highly ranked geography journal Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.
WP5 The organisation and facilitation of four workshops to staff and students in the Geography Department and to external parters and audiences (including an internationally commissioned workshop)
WP6 The teaching of three postgraduate level workshops and seminars on listening and environmental research.
The main outputs achieved so far are as follows:
WP2 The production of three sound art documentaries for transmission on Germany's national radio station, Deutschlandradio
WP3 The piloting and planned exhibition of Climates of Listening Research Exhibition under the title “Listening across Faultlines: Stories of Oceanic Life” (co-produced with Fijian collaborators Eliki Reade and Mere Nailatikau). A residency period of May 15th -May 31st to develop the work will be undertaken, with a pilot exhibition included in this time. The final exhibition will run from August 23rd-27th 2023.
WP4 The invited presentation of work as keynote research at three national and international conferences. The publication of one research article for the highly ranked geography journal Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.
WP5 The organisation and facilitation of four workshops to staff and students in the Geography Department and to external parters and audiences (including an internationally commissioned workshop)
WP6 The teaching of three postgraduate level workshops and seminars on listening and environmental research.
The results so far have exceeded the expectations of the project. There is an enormous interest in the arts for environmental research, particularly using sound methods both within academia and outside of it in the arts and non-profit sectors. The progress beyond the state of the art is seen in the extensive uptake of the projects outputs. I will outline these through the work packages:
WP2 The production of three sound art documentaries for transmission on Germany's national radio station, Deutschlandradio has resulted in the subsequent translation of the material into German to gain a broader national reach. Deutschalndradio has a daily listenership of over 1.5 million people. There is current interest in commissioning the audio works for airing in Australia, the United Kingdom and Fiji.
WP3 The commissioning of Climates of Listening Research Exhibition under the title “Listening across Faultlines: Stories of Oceanic Life” (co-produced with Fijian collaborators Eliki Reade and Mere Nailatikau) as the headline artistic work for 2023 Struer Tracks - Biennial for Sound and Listening festival in Denmark. This has enabled a collaboration with world leading audio technology company Bang and Olufson to produce an immersive sound work.
WP4 I have been invited to keynote Australia and New Zealands premier geography conference which attracts hundreds of participants from academic, non-profit, government, business, research, and other institutional backgrounds. I have also been invited to present work from the project at Transmediale, an annual festival and a platform for critical reflection on cultural transformation from a post-digital perspective. It is one of the leading international events in the field of digital art and culture. This festival attracts over 5000 international audience members.
WP5 I have been invited to run a listening workshop through the Deep Listening Institute, the worlds leading institute on listening as sonic practice, to train the Institute trainers.
The expected results are that there will be a continuing and increasing trend in engagement with this work. The potential impacts of this are more attention to Pacific environmental campaigns and the narration of these through media, arts and research. It is too early to speculate on the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project.
WP2 The production of three sound art documentaries for transmission on Germany's national radio station, Deutschlandradio has resulted in the subsequent translation of the material into German to gain a broader national reach. Deutschalndradio has a daily listenership of over 1.5 million people. There is current interest in commissioning the audio works for airing in Australia, the United Kingdom and Fiji.
WP3 The commissioning of Climates of Listening Research Exhibition under the title “Listening across Faultlines: Stories of Oceanic Life” (co-produced with Fijian collaborators Eliki Reade and Mere Nailatikau) as the headline artistic work for 2023 Struer Tracks - Biennial for Sound and Listening festival in Denmark. This has enabled a collaboration with world leading audio technology company Bang and Olufson to produce an immersive sound work.
WP4 I have been invited to keynote Australia and New Zealands premier geography conference which attracts hundreds of participants from academic, non-profit, government, business, research, and other institutional backgrounds. I have also been invited to present work from the project at Transmediale, an annual festival and a platform for critical reflection on cultural transformation from a post-digital perspective. It is one of the leading international events in the field of digital art and culture. This festival attracts over 5000 international audience members.
WP5 I have been invited to run a listening workshop through the Deep Listening Institute, the worlds leading institute on listening as sonic practice, to train the Institute trainers.
The expected results are that there will be a continuing and increasing trend in engagement with this work. The potential impacts of this are more attention to Pacific environmental campaigns and the narration of these through media, arts and research. It is too early to speculate on the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project.