Elitza Koeva

PROJECTS

  Divinity Tree

  Phantom Tree

  OMAPA

  Speculum

  Vanishing Soundscapes

  Object to be Destroyed

  Invisible Chair

  Einstein’s {T}Ears

  Daedalus {Perdix}

  Trojan : the Matrixial

Elitza Koeva

VANISHING SOUNDSCAPES

Performance | Installation | 2018 - 2019

Sound in urban environments is ubiquitous, from speech utterances, traffic & industrial noises to machines communicating with each other. Although it seems we live in a bubble, our lives are intrinsically entangled with nature. In 1866, the German biologist and naturalist Ernst Haeckel coined the term ecology to describe the infinite intricate interactions between organisms and their environment. However, dire research papers predict that only 154 years later, we are about to lose 2/3 of the wild habitat.

We are bombarded with information about endangered species and how their loss will affect the existing ecology. Nevertheless, we are not very consciously aware of the impact this loss will have on our audio-sensorial environment. Ecology comes with its inherent soundscapes, namely geophony - non-biological sounds and biophony - every living organism creates an acoustic footprint that makes it unique and special.

Four channel sound installation at Harvard Arts First Festival | Harvard Yard (Cambridge) May 3 - May 5, 2019

Moreover, we are increasingly retreating from nature, surrounded by opaque concrete walls and polymer environments, isolated from the eco-symphony of nature. Vanishing soundscapes addresses precisely this gap by creating an immersive acoustic experience of natural environments, amplifying the sounds we are about to lose or are already long muted.

I have obtained sound data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology of the 48 different bird species in the vicinities of Harvard Yard. I have composed a soundscape for each bird and designed a set of playing cards. Vanishing Soundscapes is an acoustic performance where people are asked to select a card, scan it through the app on their cell phones, and play the audio file. By using John Cage’s chance operations, a random soundscape is generated. This project enables the urbanites to enter into dialogue with their environment by creating a meditative site where one can pause, immerse, reflect, and become more conscious.