Free admission

Encounter between Species and Specters: From Bioacoustics to Deep Listening in Media Arts

This encounter seeks to trace the connections between sound art and the sciences of the living, from acoustic monitoring to the complex relationships between species, aiming to redefine our understanding of the soundscape in relation to present-day technologies and mediations, in a context of radical ecological decline.

This living archive will document environmental alterations and form a bioheritage record. It will serve as a source of inspiration for artists and as a basis for developing inter-species mediations supported by artificial intelligence algorithms.

The encounter proposes a transdisciplinary dialogue where deep listening becomes an epistemological and political tool, allowing us to access usually inaccessible sonic dimensions and reinterpret the relationships between diverse organisms through contemporary technologies of recording, analysis, and sound creation.

This encounter arises as an initiative of Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan (University of Illinois), Alejandro Duque (UTadeo), and Jorge Barco (MAMM); it is open, and the participation of artists, researchers, and individuals with an interest in the proposed topics is encouraged to present their experiences during the event.

This activity is part of the exhibitions Umbral de Resonancia, currently in the MAMM Sound Experimentation Room, and Invocando los Fantasmas de la Modernidad in Hall A of the MAMM.

Program

Methodology: 15 to 30-minute talks with space for the amplification of field recordings.

2:00 p.m. – Welcome: Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan (University of Illinois), Alejandro Duque (UTadeo) Jorge Barco (MAMM), Presentation of the encounter and objectives.

2:30 p.m. – Session 1

• Benjamin Calais and Oscar Laverde
  Sound fragments and reflections on bioacoustics | Matik Matik- Universidad Javeriana
• Danny Zurc
  Sound heritage and biodiversity | Museo de Ciencias Naturales de La Salle – ITM
• Jorge Barco
  Resonances: Field recording of whale songs in Tribugá and the Antarctic archipelago of Magallanes with DIY hydrophones. Máquinas Mestizas
• Marius Miron
  Artificial intelligence for bioacoustics and decoding animal behavior. Earth Species Project
• Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan
  Listening technologies and trans-species mediations | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Alejandro Duque Jaramillo
  Parliament of the living: Recordings at the Manakai Reserve | Artist/Researcher Jorge Tadeo.

4:30 p.m. – Session 2

• Ximena Alarcon
  Immersive listening and tele-presence | Universidad de Antioquia / Center for Deep Listening (RPI)
• Denise Sumi
  “Becoming Ecological through Vibrational and Relational Listening” Sound works and intimate ecologies | University of Applied Arts Vienna
• Juan Pablo García Sossa (JPGS)
  Futura Trōpica Netroots: Intertropical networks and knowledge | Media artist / SAVVY Contemporary

6:00 p.m. – Closing and collective dialogue

• Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan
  Presentation of collaborative platform and project continuity.
• Open conversation with participants and attendees.

About the guests

Benjamin Calais
Director of the cultural space matik-matik, music producer, sound engineer, and field recordist. Since 2020, he has dedicated himself to seeking natural spaces free of human sounds and recording them for 24 hours in immersive audio.

Oscar Laverde
Master of Science, Ecology and Evolution from the University of Amsterdam 2007. PhD in Biological Sciences, Universidad de los Andes 2015. Research focus: Evolution of communication signals primarily in tropical birds.

Dr. Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan
Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Transdisciplinary researcher and artist working at the intersection of technology, perception, and media. He explores auditory and haptic interfaces and proposes inclusive approaches to innovation in hearing disabilities. He has developed projects such as the critical sonification of meteorological data and actively participates in community media networks. His training combines artificial intelligence and communication in the arts.

Danny Zurc
Curator at the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de La Salle – ITM. Professor-Researcher at ITM. Leader of the Museums, Heritage and Memory Research Line – ITM. Researcher in the Mammal Group at Universidad de Antioquia.

Ximena Alarcon
Composer of collective immersive listening experiences for sensing place and tele-presence. She holds a PhD in Music, Technology and Innovation from De Montfort University. She is certified in the teaching of Deep Listening®, and teaches at the Center for Deep Listening (RPI). She currently serves as Graduate Studies Coordinator at the Faculty of Arts of the Universidad de Antioquia.

Marius Miron
Senior AI Scientist | Specialist in bioacoustics and machine learning. He currently conducts research at the Earth Species Project, developing AI models to decode animal communication. PhD in Computational Sciences (UPF, 2018).

Jorge Bejarano Barco
Sound artist and curator whose work is situated at the intersection of cosmogony, ecology, and sound. In recent years, he has conducted research encompassing instrument building, field recording, and experimentation with low-tech technologies, gathered today in his project Máquinas Mestizas. He works as curator of special projects at the MAMM, where he leads the programming of the Sound Experimentation Room, Lab3.

Alejandro Duque Jaramillo
Visual artist with a PhD in Media Philosophy. University professor in Visual and Plastic Arts. He is a cultural manager with experience in carrying out technosocial projects at national and international levels in spaces such as EAFIT, Idartes, Locus Sonus, UdeA, UNAL, ITM, U Tadeo, and European Graduate School.

Denise Sumi
Doctoral Researcher and Senior Scientist at the Weibel Institute for Digital Cultures at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Specializing in contemporary art and digital cultures. Co-founder and co-director of Kunstverein Kevin Space (Vienna), a platform for experimental artistic practices. She has collaborated as a writer for The Gap, Spike Art Quarterly, and EIKON, among others, addressing intersections of art, sound, and pop culture. With experience at institutions such as HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts (Dresden) and Künstlerhaus Graz, where she edited the publication DIDING. Fellow of the Internationale Sommerakademie Salzburg (2015). Her work connects curatorship, critical writing, and collaborative projects.

Juan Pablo García Sossa
Works at the intersection of emerging technologies and tropical cultures from a Tropikos perspective (the tropics as both region and mentality). Co-founder of Estación Terrena (Bogota) and researcher at SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin). Creator of Futura Tropica Netroots, an intertropical network connecting knowledge and communities of the Global South. Fellow of EYEBEAM (2020), Akademie Schloss Solitude (2021), and Prince Claus Fund (2022). His practice explores technological re-appropriation, magical hackerism, and digital pluriversality.

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