UPCOMING: SECOND EDITION – 2023
1 – 12 MAY 2023: ONLINE at WWW.SONICEXTINCTION.NET
13 MAY 2023: LIVE, FESTIVAL AND EXHIBITION, ZIRKA SPACE, MUNICH
FIRST EDITION 1 – 2022
Fragments of Sonic Extinction is an ongoing project demonstrating a subjective approach towards the extinction of natural sounds, focusing on the sonic character of endangered (and already vanished) species along with their relationship to a variety of cultural histories. In the form of a website, Fragments of Sonic Extinction intends to shift the focus on ephemeral extinction and the complexity of the rapid changes within the sonic spheres of our world. Employing interpretation, immersion and interaction as central characteristics, the project presents contributions by artists dedicated to the perilous or extinct nature of specific species and attempts to negotiate their sonic perspectives and environments.
The manifold contributions react to future, current and past global environmental issues through a variety of narrations centred on the theme of sonic extinction. Above all, the intention of the project is to present explicitly free, artistic sound works and compositions that are rooted in diverse conceptual models and production techniques, including field recordings, data sonification, electronic and instrumental compositions, amongst others. The goal of this project is to create valuable impulses for the emergence of ecological awareness through the use of immersion in and sensitivity to sonic perspectives, which pay close attention to the catastrophes taking place in biospheres which have been effectively silenced as myriad species and their habitats are rendered extinct.
Furthermore, Fragments of Sonic Extinction aims to encourage the presentation and production of sustainable cultural artifacts, conducive to future interactions and which seek to generate empathetic reactions to sounds at risk of extinction in the years and decades to come, some of which may have already been silenced. The site’s visitors are able to trigger samples from the various compositions via keyboard or touch interfaces , taking an active position and an engaged approach towards the topics and issues discussed all the while expanding their knowledge and aesthetic awareness.
The initial selection of a polyphonic group of artists from different parts of the world has been commissioned to produce new interpretative sound works. Drawing from vastly different perspectives, the contributions span the sonic worlds of orca whales (Alba Vega Mulet, Amsterdam), the silencing of crickets connected to global warming (Laura M. Ramsey, Toronto), a transcription of the last song of the Kauai O’o (Alexander Liebermann, New York), a speculative sonification of the passenger pigeon (Lea Bertucci, New York), the sonification of the DNA of prehistoric animals (Mitchell Akiyama, Toronto), a performative piece dedicated to the Western Capercaillie (Kalas Liebfried/Rozenn le Trionnaire, Munich/Paris), a poetic journey about the cultural value of the tiger in the Indonesian Kalimantan area (Nursalim Yadi Anugerah, Pontianak) and a vocal recreation of Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotique (Jay Glass Dubs, Athens).
The eight contributions will be released weekly, every Friday, starting on 10 June through 29 July, 2022. In addition, Fragments of Sonic Extinction intends to grow as a speculative encyclopedia and archive, which aims to map the history, course and sound of extinction, in the process engendering an aesthetic discourse rooted in a multiplicity of perspectives, centred around the aforementioned themes.
Kalas Liebfried
KALAS LIEBFRIED 