Soundings: A Celebration of The River by Jana Winderen

Slides - Short

Slides

A research day for Natural History Museum and University of Reading staff.

Friday 4th October 2024, 10.00-17.30

The human ear is adapted to hear in air, which makes underwater soundscapes mysterious and differently resonant to us. Jana Winderen’s The River takes us on an auditory journey beneath the surface of the Thames to hear our world anew. Listening to rivers gives us new perspectives on animal and plant life and water itself, but also human activity and its effects. Monitoring those effects acoustically can raise awareness and improve our understandings of anthropogenic influence. How can we rethink our relationships to the rivers on which we so rely by listening more fully? Soundings is an event celebrating Winderen’s collaboration with the Natural History Museum, exploring her immersive work and opening conversations at the interface of the art and science of sound.

The first half of the day (10.00-14.30) will consist of focused seminar sessions for NHM and Reading colleagues to share environmentally focused work at the intersection of art and science, including an opportunity to experience The River installation.

The seminar includes a tour of the bioacoustics infrastructure in the NHM garden, an introduction to the NHM’s sound collection, and an interdisciplinary research conversation, which will cover topics including:

• How can we use sound to understand and engage people with the hidden systems in nature?

• What and how much sound should the museum be collecting for the future?

• How do we connect sound and specimen collections?

• How can we think about anthropogenic interference with animal senses?

• What use can be made of historical or contemporary recordings?

This will be followed by a public event (15.00-17.30) including contributions from Jana Winderen, artist Tania Kovats, and NHM acoustic biology researcher Ed Baker, chaired by UoR Professor of Art Florian Roithmayr.