The Deep Listening Deep Sea(ing) project will create artistic experiences that contribute to raise awareness of the importance of the deep ocean. And more.
The ocean is essential for life on Earth: it influences climate and the weather, supports a huge bio density and biodiversity of life and ecosystems, connects human population. We know relatively well its surface, because we see it and use it frequently, but the ocean has an average depth of 4,200 meters and the physical, chemical and biological processes that occur in the deep ocean (bellow 200 m) are critical for life on Earth. The deep ocean is largely unexplored and few people are aware of its importance. Most of us are familiar with a list of damage done to coastal waters (overfishing, oil spills, plastic accumulation, chemical and noise pollution) but are unaware of how they impact far below the surface. And the rush to mineral resources in the deep ocean could cause even more serious damage, without us even having time to know what the deep ocean contains.
Deep Listening Deep Sea(ing) will challenge teenagers to imagine and create soundscapes to accompany images collected in scientific missions to the deep ocean. To achieve that they will explore Pianoscópio, a contemporary interactive installation that transforms the piano into a collective instrument capable of producing an immense variety of sounds.
The “journey” to deep ocean starts with a conference by a scientist and continues with workshops of musical/audiovisual creation led by multidisciplinary artists. Contact with “real characters” from these two apparently distinct worlds is an important aspect of the project and it is possible that the journey will never end for those who come on board: interrogating, experimenting, discovering, imagining are things that stay with us and lead to many places.
The title of this project refers to the concept of “Deep Listening”, developed by Composer Pauline Oliveros, that cultivates a heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration, playfulness and other creative skills vital to personal and community growth. And our intention is to stimulate emotions which are an essential part of developing true connections and changing behaviours. Deep Sea(ing) has also, therefore, a metaphorical dimension: the discovery of ourselves and a greater awareness of the world around us.