Situated Listening Modes in an Ecological place

Title: Situated Listening Modes in an Ecological place; Sihwa
Place: ACPA Leiden University, DocARTES Orpheus Institute
Date: 25/5/2024
Format: Website

IWP Coach: Marcel Cobussen
Research Supervisers: Marcel Cobussen and Eric Kluitenberg

Link to the website

In July 2023, I conducted field research at Sihwa on the west coast of Korea, residing there for a month in collaboration with a multidisciplinary collective consisting of a landscape architect, a curator, a visual artist, a marine ecologist, and a maritime humanities researcher. Sihwa has been mitigating pollution caused by anti-ecological reclamation projects, diluting it through artificial currents to improve water quality and the surrounding marine ecology. This field research aimed to archive meaningful acoustic communication between maritime infrastructure and surrounding ecology within this re-wilding process.

This essay contained, in particular, a series of reflections on the listening modes encountered in the ecological field research. Important questions were addressed: How does one come to understand the entanglements of Sihwa through listening, and what listening modes can convey to listeners the contextual web surrounding Sihwa? I am trying to provide context in order to prime the listener to my blend of stories in the ecological place before I press record on my recorder. The reason for this attempt is that I believe meaningful acoustic communication can be realised through acknowledging the complexity of situated listening modes and with specific sonic knowledge.

Figure. Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station aerial view (Ansan: Arne Müseler, April 9, 2020), CC BY-SA 3.0.