Dark Oceanography
Performance collaboration
Music has an important role to play in climate crisis discourse, offering a sonic pathway to bridge the gap between data, understanding, reflection, and action. Dark Oceanography integrates climate science with experimental music, modelling generative oceanic systems of eddies in spatial audio and percussion. In this new work, the live performances of three percussionists converge with multi-channel spatialised electronic sound, creating a dynamic spatial instrument that looks to water to understand the passage of time and sonifies the future impact of global warming in the ocean by submerging the audience in sound. Following the pathways of eddies from the Eastern Australian Current through the Southern Ocean and across the globe, we used Lagrangian tracking data obtained from daily ocean model output from the ACCESS-OM2 model at eddy-resolving resolution (0.10ᵒ) and translated this to music. The scientific data informing this work is drawn from the location of each performance, foregrounding local knowledge and experiences of ocean climate change. Led by listening, it will provide an experiential pathway for audiences, revealing the impact of climate change on underwater sanctuaries through performance.
Collaboratively developed by a team from The Sound Collectors Lab and ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather including artists Louise Devenish (performer/director) Kate Milligan (composition), Erin Coates (film), Aaron Wyatt (music technologist) and scientist Navid Constantinou (oceanographer).
PERFORMANCES
27 July 2025: David Li Sound Gallery, Monash University (concert version, info and tickets here)
TALKS
21 July 2025: 21st Century Weather x The Sound Collectors Lab Salon (register here)
27 July 2025: Post-concert Q+A facilitated by Dr Aura Go
ARTICLES / STORIES
OTHER MEDIA
Program Note available here
Photo Credit: Darren Gill