This Sunday 20th August, London’s Cafe Oto will be holding a listening night with the theme of confronting environmental crisis through sound. Titled ‘Amplification/Annihilation’, the event is billed as a live “experimental, audio-visual radio broadcast” bringing together sources from field recordings and scientific data sonifications, rap and pop songs, experimental electronics, short film, radio plays, poetry and spoken word. The event starts at 8pm and is free-entry, so no need to buy a ticket — attendees can just turn up on the door. Full event details are here.
“From the crunching of beetles infesting trees to the slow creep of rising sea levels, sound is increasingly used to document the effects of global environmental change,” write the organisers in the full event description. “Artists and activists are using sound to comment on, and intervene in, the climate debate. However, while the aesthetics of ecological crisis are pervasive, replete with a dwindling dawn chorus and celebrations of a nonhuman nature, the broader contexts and stakes of these images or sounds are rarely considered. Against the drip drip drip of glacial melt, this evening showcases sound works that seek to confront environmental change.”
Among the featured works are pieces by artists including Leah Barclay (AUS), Robin Buckley (UK), Kate Carr (UK), Minerva Cuevas (MEX), Graciela Muñoz Farida (CHL), Anja Kanngieser and Polly Stanton (UK/AUS), Andrea Polli (MEX), Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (CAN), Ziibiwan (CAN), with more to be included on the night.
