Eaten Alive (2022) — for String Quintet, Tape, and Effects Processing
premiered at the SoniHED Conference on Sonification of Health and Environmental Data, Oct, 2023, online
Also featured at:
Technosonics Festival, Nov. 2023, Charlottesville, VA
Earth Day Art Model Festival, Apr. 2023, online
notes:
In a past era, the connection between ocean health and life on Earth might have been less clear. Today, however, the evidence pointing to the ocean’s vital role in sustaining planetary life is undeniable. The mass extraction of fish since the burgeoning of the fishing industry in the twentieth century has had a devastating impact on the ocean’s biodiversity and ecosystem. From Sylvia Earle, former NOAA chief scientist: “Oceans, and all marine life that lives under and above the water, play a central role in stabilizing the Earth’s climate. They provide a vital source of food to a vast number of land and water species and regulate the amount of CO2 (carbon dioxide) that stays in the atmosphere by absorbing 30 percent of global emissions.” ‘Eaten Alive for String Quintet, Tape and Electronics Processing,’ sonifies the intersection of climate change and global fish production. The Earth’s climate from 1960 onward is represented by the instrument’s pitch and the amount of global fish production is represented by the amount of effects processing added to the recorded instruments. ‘Eaten Alive’ is conceived as a fixed-media video performance, common for music created during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
score:
EA-SCORE-5-LANDSCAPE
presentation/paper:
