ISEA2024 River Listening

Join in to listen to the sounds of the river on the the ferry.

A sound walk that will take you along the river-walk of Southbank while mimicking the experience of a creature exhibit, featuring creatures from the world of Harry Potter. Cassandra Sherwin s5134732

I recorded everyday ambient sounds I heard while walking down the streets—snippets of people’s conversations as they passed by, the wind, the sound of water, and cars driving past. Over these sounds, I layered my own thoughts as I walked along those paths.

River Listening reimagines the world beneath the surface of the Brisbane River. The sounds of the river system are layered with creative responses that connect to river systems across the world. This sound walk is part of an interdisciplinary project exploring the art and science of listening to rivers and the creative possibilities of aquatic ecoacoustics. River Listening is a collaboration between the Australian Rivers Institute and the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre with support from the Australian Network for Art and Technology through the Synapse program. Launching for World Science Festival Brisbane 2017, the South Bank Augmented Reality Sound Walks use GPS points along the Brisbane River to trigger audio based on location and movement. Walk towards the points on the River Listening map and the sounds will play automatically when you are in the right locations. River Listening is best experienced with headphones. The augmented reality sound walks for World Science Festival Brisbane have been developed by Leah Barclay as part of 100 Ways to Listen (100waystolisten.com) Tweet @LeahBarclay or #RiverListening for further information. #100xListen #WSFB2017

Enjoy an audio-enhanced experience of Brisbane City Council’s Botanica: Contemporary art outside exhibition in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens. Created by Andrew R Brown. Supported by Griffith University.

Hydrology explores the diverse sonic properties of aquatic ecosystems that cover over 70% of Earth’s surface. The sounds have been recorded using hydrophones (underwater microphones) in freshwater and marine ecosystems across the planet. The featured soundscapes include snapping shrimp on coastal reefs in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve of Mexico, melting ice in Norway’s Kvina River and Humpback Whales along the Queensland coastline.

Climate change is a household name which many people young and old are familiar with hearing. Climate change is described as “Climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system that persists for several decades or longer—usually at least 30 years”. Through the use of visual aids we are constantly exposed to the harsh realities of this effect, yet it continues to fail in yielding the appropriate results for the earth to natural reproduce its resources for consumption. The challenge was set for me to use the medium of an aural walk to further develop an understanding of the impact plastic waste has had on climate change. The soundscape is centered around the Brisbane River and the effects plastic waste has had on the marine life. Furthermore, it is the intention to draw the listener into a conceptualised space using narration to assist in the understanding of the transformations across time in the Brisbane River. Each of the five locations are set in specific decades across history i.e. location one is the beginning which starts in the 1950’s and progresses through to the final location which is set as 2020.