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Note: This blog is an informal ‘script’ for a paper I gave on October 6, 2023 about my ‘Sounding Modernity’ project to the XI International Symposium on Soundscape, organized by the FKL-Forum Klanglandschaft in Lugano, Switzerland.
Note: Below is a recording of my delivery of the paper. I ended up deviating quite a bit from my script! I also answered a question about representation/diversity at conferences and whether listening was enough to address complex ecological issues.
Good morning
I’m speaking to you from the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations otherwise known as Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
I’m happy to be present a paper today through Skype at this important gathering of acoustic ecologists from around the world. Some of you might recall that I had the pleasure of speaking to you from this same room two years ago about radical listening as climate action.
So thanks to Stefano Zorzanello and the production entire team there for this opportunity to talk about a passion of mine, sound and sustainability, or as I like to call it these days ‘sound and the end of the world as we know it’.
Je vais vous parler en anglais mais si vous avez des questions en français à la fin il me fera plaisir d’y répondre.
I was excited to submit a proposal to this conference because it explores how to ‘initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue that examines the use of the acoustic paradigm, eventual or current, in the times and places we are living in, with the idea of a sustainable present and future in mind.’
There is a lot to unpack here with this statement.
- What is meant by sustainability here?
- Does it imply continuing life within the assumptions of modernity or is a sustainability a radical new way of life?
- And from what perspective are we listening?
- How can listening help us prepare for a catastrophic future?
I submitted my proposal a category called ‘Storytelling with sound : the language of media and audio-based narration’ which invites us to think about ‘what specificity does sound have in these narrations and which models can contribute to developing ethical forms of storytelling?’
These are very exciting questions for a soundscape composer and podcaster like me, who sometimes feels isolated doing this work. So, thanks for listening today and hopefully we can continue the conversation afterwards.
The fourth season of the conscient podcast began on January 1 of this year, is called ‘Sounding Modernity’ and explores what modernity sounds like, how it affects us and how to ‘create the conditions for other possible worlds to emerge in the wake of what is dying’.
And this concept of ‘possible worlds to emerge in the wake of what is dying’ came to me from article by the same name by the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective, a group of scholars and researchers led by Dr. Vanessa Andreotti, who is author of Hospicing Modernity, which is a book I strongly recommend. Vanessa and her colleagues work on decolonization work has had a very strongly influenced my life and I’m grateful for this wisdom.
It’s also interesting to note that the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective was formed here in Vancouver, which, as many of you know, is also the home of the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University so it’s interesting for me to see how Murray Schafer’s theory about the soundscape and all those assumptions, is now being reconsidered in the context of decolonization and emergency preparedness in a province that is suffering from massive fires and floods like many other places in the world.
So, what I’ll do today is walk you through some examples of my ‘Sounding Modernity’ project today with a focus on what I have unlearned in the process.
I’ll speak for a few minutes and then I’ll invite you for questions and comments. I look forward to this exchange because one of the objectives of the Sounding Modernity project is to stimulate conversations with listeners about their experience with modernity and what we can to address complex issues that we face.
But first let me clarify what I mean by modernity?
I don’t mean modernist art or modernism as a style of art. What I mean the modern era based on extractive capitalism, overconsumption, endless growth, systemic racism, white supremacy, separation from nature, and so on. I’m interested in both a critique of modernity’ such as the lifestyles, structures, sites, beings, creatures, habits around us but also on how to leave the worse aspect of modernity behind us.
And one of things learned from my colleagues at the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collectives is to walk a tightrope between naive hope and desperate hopelessness, with honesty, humility, humor and hyper-self-reflexivity. And the humour part, in particular, is difficult because of the gravity of the issues we face – it’s easy to become demoralized – but it is critical to have the energy to face the truth and get on with the hard work of changing our ways.
And I’ll give you an example of changing our ways. I’ll read you a statement I include at the end of each podcast episode notes :
I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this episode (including all the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation and infrastructure that make this podcast possible).
So this accountability is why I did not fly to be with you this week in Switzerland. This is also why I donate funds with each episode a ‘gesture of reciprocity’ for those in need. I also try to recycle technology, use green energy, etc.
So let’s start with the first episode which I published on January 1, 2023 called e101 tension – how do you feel now? I’ll play you the YouTube version. It takes 5 minutes.
How do I feel now? Well thanks for asking. I feel pretty nervous doing this presentation alone in Vancouver but after that episode I do feel a bit less tense. So, this is the first of 52 episodes.
I also wrote monthly blogs about my learnings and unlearnings from this project. For example, here is an excerpt from my February blog from a colleague who took a course called Facing Human Wrongs with me:
Episode 1 (e101) was a great start and stirring for me. I wanted it to last longer (even though my answer to your question was that I felt restless and annoyed). The gift of silence and breathing throughout and especially towards the end are so much appreciated. I am curious if these silences appear in the middle, how much are we conditioned not to trust the silence/devices and to sway towards checking our phones/devices to see whether the soundtrack stopped or is still playing. This can be an episode by itself.
I published a new episode every week, exploring a different issue or sound every time and asking a question at the end of each episode, for example:
- e102 aesthetics asks how can we ‘de-modernize’ art?
- e103 heat asks what does decarbonization sound like to you?
- e104 time asks what does a very small moment in a much larger space sound like?
And so on. Some use raw field recording while others are soundscape compositions, some are radio plays, some are interviews, some are comments on quotes or a mix of all these styles. Every week I had a blank slate in front of me and a Sunday midnight deadline, so it was fun to get them done and not look back.
I promised at the outset that each episode would be only 5 minutes, with a French and English version and I kept this promise until … well, e112 listening – how can listening help? which is selection of quotes from my learning and unlearning journey that I presented as my keynote speech at the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology ‘Listening Pasts – Listening Futures’ conference on March 24, 2023 in Florida. Let’s listen to the beginning of the YouTube version:
I came up with 5 conclusions in this episode:
- face reality and learn how to unlearn
- develop and implement a radical theory of change through the arts
- transition out of modernity
- change the story
- connect our efforts
After that 12 minute program I went back to 5 minutes episodes that explored a wide range of questions, includingwhat are the privileges in your life? what does ecological loss sound like where you live? where does your shit go? And so on.
I was fortunate to receive many interesting responses, including one on March 20th, 2023 from composer Hildegard Westerkamp about her experience with e111 traps – what are the traps in your life? which is a fictional conversation between myself and an observer of me about some of the trappings of modernity. Here is what Hildi said from my April conscient blog:
Proselytizing certainly is one of my traps as well, spiritual bypassing the way your Observer defines it, is probably also one (although I do not do much field recording anymore). Other traps are hanging on to old patterns – they give the illusion of stability – or having expectations even when my mind thinks that I have let go of them, suddenly one is confronted with even subtler, hardly noticeable ones. That’s why, always returning to a practice of listening, can help to recognize the traps at least, perhaps even eliminate them.
I replied to Hildi that:
Spiritual bypassing is a tough because we think that these are ‘good things’ but it all depends on the point of view. I have found that gentle but deep self-reflexivity is helpful. Some old patterns also are good to let go of, leaving place and space for other places and spaces, but some are worth keeping… Traps, however, abound. Noticing them is the first step.
Skipping ahead now. At the midpoint in the project, I created a 57-minute summary of the first 26 episodes called e127 halfway – towards what are you halfway? which was intended to be broadcast on framework radio in Estonia.
One of my favorite quotes in this episode is from a listener who on May 16th wrote to me that :
So grateful to have been able to listen and stay close to your work. It’s wonderful to witness, feel and sense into the different layers and movements over the course of the episode and throughout the arc of the season so far. It’s almost as if the story of Sounding Modernity is being stitched by the sounds, walks and episodes and shapeshifting it into this surprising creature (sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes visible, sometimes fictional…). I wonder how else the story of Sounding Modernity will further weave itself (both in/out of control) as you continue to loosen even more of your grips on it, slowly and gently. I like how humor mixes with pain and poetry mixes with interviews, and ocean mixes with toilet shitty waters. The playful and surprising diversity is fun. It’s even clear that you are both struggling and having so much fun, which adds honesty and trust in wanting to go with you on the inquiry. As you approach the middle of your journey, what might be needed at this time to invite further and what might be ready to be released into new soils? May more sounds reveal/be revealed.
Not surprisingly, many more sounds did reveal themselves over the summer and into the fall. Here is what I responded to this listener’s comment:
Your point about how Sounding Modernity might unfold in/out of control is a good one as I approach the midpoint in the project on July 1. I’m coming to terms with its failings, surprises and unanticipated unlearnings. The isolation in particular has been bewildering. I think I have already ‘lost my grip on it’, in a good way. I have essentially given up on it being a ‘exploration of the sounds of modernity’ – which was quite pretentious anyway – but rather, as you suggest, has become a portrait of my struggles and discoveries through the sounds of modernity.
One of the most impactful episodes for me was e128 revisited – what does decolonized listening sound like to you’? Let me tell you the story.
On June 23, 2023 I had the pleasure, and the privilege, of attending ‘Listening to Lhq’a:lets’ otherwise known as the city of Vancouver, at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Learning at the University of British Columbia.
A group of artists, all women, spoke about their week-long residency, organized by indigenous sound scholar and UBC professor Dr. Dylan Robinson. They shared a wide range of sensory engagements through listening to Lhq’a:lets: how our bodies listen through the haptics of vibration, about hearing and feeling the voices of our non-human relations, about how we can perceive the built environment with new perspectives – the air, waterways and earth that surround us.
They spoke about their encounters with the trans-mountain pipeline, their dialogues with animals and birds, their encounters with haunting vibrations and their thoughts about the past, present and future sounds of this region.
What they did not talk about was themselves, their accomplishments or the type of technology they used to extract and manipulate the sounds. None of that. There was also no reverence for say R. Murray Schafer or the World Soundscape Project, nor any nostalgia about the good old days when, say, the term ‘soundscape’ was invented. There was no disrespect either. They were listening from a different position.
So I heard stories, poems, anecdotes, images, silences and prophecies… It was uplifting.
This is a good example of an unlearning moment. I let go of my old listening habits and experienced a new way of listening.
So, to conclude, it’s October 6th, 2023 today and I have 12 more episode to publish. Last week’s episode is called e140 saturation and asks you, ‘how can we tap into our boundless streams of love, connection and meaning?’ I suggest we listen to the beginning:
(bell and breath)
(sound of two climate shows at once then fade out)
I was talking with a colleague recently about how few people listen to ‘end of the world as we know it’ podcasts, such as this one.
And I think it’s because they’re so … fucking, depressing and grim. We are constantly reminded how awful things are and how much more awful they will become, with no credible way out.
Saturated
I used to think that art could help us with these entangled crises but I’m starting to think the role of art is more about the relationship between consolation and hope as my friend and colleague Azul Caroline Duque suggests.
Consolation and hope.
The last episode of this project will be broadcast on December 31, 2023 is called full circle. It asks you ‘how can we support those who are frightened by the ecological crisis and in need of a calm presence?’
I want to thank all the voices, human and non-human, that I have recorded during this project. I also want to thank the Canada Council for the Arts, whose funds helped me pay my collaborators and work in good conditions.
Voila. Sonder la modernité. Sounding Modernity.
Do you have any questions or comments?
The post special edition : ‘unlearning through sound’ – my presentation to 2023 FKL ‘sound sustainability’ conference appeared first on conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.
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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term “conscient” is defined as “being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations”. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016-2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
season 1 (may – october 2020) : environmental awareness and action Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie”s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
season 2 (march – august 2021 ) : reality and ecological grief Season 2 (March 2021 ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that “I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, “the state of things as they actually exist”, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way”. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
season 3 (october 2021 – february 2022 ) : radical listening Season 3 was about radical listening : listening deeply without passing judgment, knowing the truth and filtering out the noise and opening attention to reality and responding to what needs to be done. The format is similar the first podcast format I did in 2016 with the simplesoundscapes project, which was to ‘speak my mind’ and ‘think out loud’. I start this season with a ‘soundscape composition’, e63 a case study (part 1) and e64 a case study (part 2), a bilingual speculative fiction radio play, set in an undergraduate university history seminar course called ‘History of 2021 in Canada’. It concluded with a soundscape composition ‘Winter Diary Revisited’.
season 4 (1 january – 31 december 2023) : sounding modernity
About
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I”m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias.
While recording episode 19 “reality”, I heard elements of “privilege” in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like “ecological mansplaining”. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
View the original: https://www.conscient.ca/special-edition-unlearning-through-sound-my-presentation-to-2023-fkl-sound-sustainability-conference/