Environmental Sound Artists: In Their Own Words is an incisive and imaginative look at the international environmental sound art movement, which emerged in the late 1960s. The term environmental sound art is generally applied to the work of sound artists who incorporate processes in which the artist actively engages with the environment. While the field of environmental sound art is diverse and includes a variety of approaches, the art form diverges from traditional contemporary music by the conscious and strategic integration of environmental impulses and natural processes.This book presents a current perspective on the environmental sound art movement through a collection of personal writings by important environmental sound artists. Dismayed by the limitations and gradual breakdown of contemporary compositional strategies, environmental sound artists have sought alternate venues, genres, technologies, and delivery methods for their creative expression. Environmental sound art is especially relevant because it addresses political, social, economic, scientific, and aesthetic issues. As a result, it has attracted the participation of artists internationally. Awareness and concern for the environment has connected and unified artists across the globe and has achieved a solidarity and clarity of purpose that is singularly unique and optimistic. The environmental sound art movement is borderless and thriving.

ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Sonifications of Global Environmental DataAndrea Polli2. Sewer Pipe OrganPhilip Blackburn3. Biophonic Sound Sculptures in Public SpacesBernie Krause4. A Philosophical Report From Work-In-ProgressDavid Dunn5. Listening to the EarthJohn Bullitt6. The Place Where You Go to Listen: An Ecosystem of Sound and LightJohn Luther Adams7. MeltwaterCheryl E. Leonard8. Hearing Curved SpaceJeff Talman9. River ListeningLeah Barclay10. Sun BoxesCraig Colorusso11. Bridge Music and Tower MusicJoseph Bertolozzi12. Data as Music: Why Musically Encoded Sonification Design Offers a Rich Palette for Information DisplayMarty Quinn13. Sonic Landscapes (finding a sense of place with my ears)Bruce Odland14. Sonic Migrations: listening in-between, sensing placeXimena Alarcón15. Sound ArchitectureZimoun16. The Sonic Ecology of StructuresChina Blue17. Why Bring Nature Into Your Music?David Rothenberg18. The Dawn ChorusGordon Hempton19. Bivvy BroadcastsDawn Scarfe20. A Philosophy of Eco-acoustics in the Interdisciplinary Project "Fragments of Extinction"David Monacchi21. Towards Activist Sound: N30 Live at the WTO Protest November 30, 1999Christopher DeLaurenti22. The Listening Experience of "Paramnesia"Aki Pasoulas23. Musical Heuristics in Six Ecoacoustic QuintetsMatthew BurtnerIndex