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NaturArchy Residencies: Synocene - beyond the Anthropocene @ DG ENV

How, in the context of profound transformation, can the world evolve and take shape with a strong and complex relationship between humanity, living, and non-living? 

What relationships are we developing with other species, natural elements, but also with AI? 

How can these forms of life or existence feed imaginations, build narratives, and inspire processes?

Artists Sam Nester (Instagram: @1snester) and Marina Wainer (Instagram: @marina_wainer) will be in residence at DG ENV in Brussels from the 27/02 to the 03/03, working with Lucia Iglesias Blanco (DG ENV) on Synocene - beyond the Anthropocene.

Synocene is a spatial sound installation that explores a decentralised view of our anthropocentric experience of the natural world. This work engages local communities, the beings inside Natura 2000 forests, and the contributions of artificial intelligence

Visual rendering Synocene (text and fog) for project page
Image credits: S. Nester & M. Wainer, 2023

Whilst in Brussels, Sam and Marina will present their work and ongoing collaboration. This presentation will be hybrid in format and Webex attendance will be possible, details to be confirmed. To receive the details please email: JRC-RESONANCES@ec.europa.eu 

More about the project 

The final outcome will exist as an immersive 360° spatial sound installation for public audiences. Visitors to this work will discover the many narratives created by the human experiences of nature in a hybrid writing with AI, along with forest field recordings from within the Natura 2000 site. To achieve the final installation, a community of people will be invited to encounter their local forest in a transformed state. From this experience, they will work with artificial intelligence to co-create narratives that investigate a post-anthropocentric view of nature. These audio recorded narratives will be paired with site-specific nature field recordings in a generative sound installation to create an ever-evolving attempt at a human/non-human/more-than-human impression of the natural world.

Background

Sam Nester is an Australian born, New York City based musician. Nester aims to bring the environment from the background into the foreground at a critical time for environmental awareness. Marina Wainer is a Paris-based artist. She develops a transdisciplinary practice at the crossroads of creation, research and innovation. Lucía Iglesias Blanco is a forestry engineer and a nature protection expert, at DG ENV. The three of them met at the @SciArt Summer School on NaturArchy which took place in June 2022 at the JRC in Ispra. The group is also working with Isabelle Hupont Torres (AI, affective computing and human-machine interaction researcher), for the aspects on artificial intelligence and will also be conducting a week in residence in Sevilla (06/03-10/06). 

 

 

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