Workshop: Eco-acoustic Research and Sonic-Visual Art
This lecture-performance shows a brief insight into my artistic dissertation in the field of eco-acoustics and computer music. The two national parks Donau-Auen and Kalkalpen (Austria) not only serve as research sites, they also symbolize the last remnants of large floodplain landscapes and primeval beech forests in Central Europe. Excerpts from current pieces such as Zur toten Pappel (To the Dead Poplar), Chiroptera Socius Docta, and Flussgesänge(Chants From the River) shall raise ecological awareness and draw attention to sonic health and anthropogenic impacts on these unique and fragile acoustic environments. Aesthetic forms of expression of the wind, complex sound spectra of non-human organisms, subtle sound nuances of life in dead wood, or of subterranean and underwater organisms, as well as the social calls of birds, amphibians, insects and mammals in relation to human presence are conveyed with the help of immersive sonic-visual art.
Sam “Dankwart” Erpelding is a sound engineer, sound artist, and eco-acoustician. As an electric guitarist, he performs in various formations, including the trio “ARGON”. Under the pseudonym “Dankwart”, Sam has been publishing his compositions since 2014. Since 2018, he has presented his sound art and research at venues such as the Casino Luxembourg, the Donau-Auen National Park Visitor Center, and at festivals such as Ars Electronica, Luxembourg Art Week, and the 5th Eco-acoustic Congress in Madrid. He is co-founder of the Luxembourgish art collective D’Kréiennascht and since 2021 member of the radio art network Radiôme. He is currently doing his PhD at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz in cooperation with the University of Salzburg, the Donau-Auen and Kalkalpen National Park (Au). As part of his current research, he received a research grant from Nationalpark Austria.”.