Biomimetics, nanosonic storytelling and arctic soundscapes

As part of this seminar, Dr Blinkhorn is particularly interested in discussing two lines of inquiry.

The first involves his activities as artist-in-residence at the Sydney Nanoscience Institute, where he found he was able to combine a burgeoning interest in biomimetics, with one of the institutes core mandates of nanosonic storytelling. Unsurprisingly, he found the most natural way into this topic, as both a composer and sound artist, was to consider compositional process (mapping a number of techniques to sculpt sound - either digital/ electroacoustic, or acoustic ways of transforming sound based on specific criteria - concepts, words, datasets, etc.) The techniques and processes that he used were functional, resulting in some interesting compositional work, however given the subject matter radiates across the sciences and arts, he would relish observations from others within the seminar.

 The second line of inquiry follows directly from the first, and is a response to a question posed by the Exploring Arctic Soundscapes initiative, ‘How can the production and performance of music and sound art bring a sensitive understanding of the North to individuals outside the region, creating interactions based on dynamic (if virtual) conversation rather than an external gaze’?

Given the way in which he might traditionally approach this question (given his work on the region in the past) and would probably continue to be deeply metaphorical, and process-based, a discussion radiating across disciplines will hopefully illicit some ways in which his interests in, for instance biomimetics can begin to manifest both scientifically and metaphorically when generating interaction and conversation.

Connect to Zoom via: https://durhamuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcqf-iqrD0sGtPyOuAkLg_Cw9TYcGhocxJV .