‘For the Ecology of Sound’. New Perspectives on the Sound in the Marlene Creates’ Environmental Literature

The 1952-born Canadian artist, photographer and poet Marlene Creates has been exploring “the relationship between human experience, memory, language and the land, and the impact they have on each other”¹ for over forty years. Creates uses digital media to create and distribute her work², which over recent years has become a subject of discussion³, as well as interpretation through a feminist framework, by literary critics. In this essay I will take, as an example, a specific composition entitled River of Rain (2010), from A Virtual Walk of the Boreal Poetry Garden⁴, to study Creates’ conscious approach on field recordings as a means of expression beyond words. Creates claims that “there is always something you cannot capture”⁵ in her art; it is apparent that the variety of her artistic approach – from written poems to audio-visual content – expands the potential meanings of her works.

A Virtual Walk of the Boreal Poetry Garden (2010), fully published on the artist’s website,

provides a multimedia experience of her reading poems in the places each was written, in six acres of boreal forest. The website opens with a high-resolution aerial photograph of the site with a list of video-poems that the viewer can select from. Once a specific video-poem is selected, a dot appears on the aerial photograph, indicating the poems’ location, and then a video window opens and features Creates reading a site-specific poem in that particular place⁶.

Moreover, as the scholar Derek Gladwin says, her work “aims to document a bioregion” by investigating its “placed-based sensibility”⁷. We should bear in mind that, as Creates’ art has often been based on a detailed audio-visual description of the land, the element which plays a leading role in her works is the bond linking places to poetry⁸.

One methodology to describe a physical place is field recording. Sounds are acoustic manifestations of spatialities, and recording sound entails memories of a specific time in a specific place. In the 1960s the term ‘soundscape’ was coined by the composer and naturalist Raymond Murray Schafer⁹ (1933-2021) – although it seems to be originally attributed to the city planner Michael Southworth, who used it for the first time in The sonic environment of cities (1969)¹⁰. A collective awareness arose on the matter, and the concept of “sound ecology” became a contested issue over time. However, it should be kept in mind that research on sound ecology has come to focus mainly on scientific subjects such as noise pollution. Yet this approach can be productively applied also to the reading of contemporary art alongside the ecological approach of Environmental Humanities, which could expand its available tools of literary criticism to incorporate those of sound ecology.

According to Schafer, a soundscape is “our sonic environment, the ever-present array of noises with which we all live”¹¹. The bond between the sonic environment and its acoustics forms our perception of sounds that surround us. The perception of a sound is continuously dynamic. Even the same sound, if recorded and played twice, will produce a different resonance. Owing to this seemingly infinite variability and non-repeatability, Schafer believes that each soundscape should be documented and preserved in order to have an ideal archive of the sounds appearing in our life¹². This sound-documenting technique is often referred to as field recording¹³.

Aside from Schafer’s own observations, those of the well-known composer John Cage (1912-1992), who conceived the critically-acclaimed 4’33”¹⁴ in 1952, broadened his awareness of the role silence and sounds play in everyday life. Cage’s 4’33” consists of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of pure silence, and by breaking the common rules of music Cage illustrated how silence is merely illusory to humans¹⁵. Sufficient proof of this theory lies in the fact that, during the execution of the silent work, many different sounds can be heard (and they vary depending on the environment surrounding whoever is [not] performing the piece). Cage realized that silence cannot exist when he experienced an anechoic chamber, finding he could still hear his heartbeat and some ear-generated noises¹⁶.

Schafer’s and Cage’s contributions played a fundamental role in the expansion of several branches of experimental music: field recording documentaries, sound art and musique concrète as well as ambient, drone and minimal music¹⁷.

The observations of these two scholars help us understand that Marlene Creates can be considered a sound artist – more specifically a field recordist – as she captures sounds and noises generated by nature and humans and uses them as an editable source to represent the soundscapes of her garden.

To return to the work of the Canadian artist, Creates’ A Virtual Walk of the Boreal Poetry Garden features sixteen different video-poems, all of them significantly and consciously using sound and field recordings as a means of soundscape documentation. One of them, entitled River of Rain¹⁸, lasts for almost seven minutes. Its soundtrack “is produced by the juxtaposition of the noisy stream of water, flowing and rattling, with the poet’s murmuring voice, singing the river lyrically”¹⁹, as Carmen Concilio writes. However, natural soundscapes are not the only ones to be heard in this composition. At the end of the performance the artist’s voice begins to repeat previously pronounced words randomly, transforming them by erasing their original meaning²⁰. The following analysis of River of Rain attempts to show how such an abundance of sonic content was used.

The video begins with the sound of flowing water on a black screen, immediately followed by the appearance of a stream of water flowing quite heavily. Then the voice of Creates begins performing the poetry, and we hear the first change in the soundscape: the noise of the fast-flowing water fades out into the softer, more delicate sound of water droplets. Water drops are also what the artist mentions in the poem: “droplets melding into runnels”; and it is interesting to see that I am not the only one insisting on the power of sound, with Concilio claiming to be “mesmerized as we are by the sound of tumbling water like a refreshing breeze”²¹. This illustrates how sounds can be perceived as physical, almost touchable entities. The sound of droplets continues within a low droning background of water, provoked by distant twists and turns of the river. When we hear a sound whose source is neither precisely recognized nor identified, we refer to it as acousmatic²².

While the noise of water continues in the background, the poet mentions the Milky Way, and an image of the galaxy appears on the screen. This is the first and only clear moment when audio and video are not synchronized. Water droplets can still be heard, but on the screen is an image of the stars, and a moment is given to read a few words written on the picture. As scholars claim, the relationship between written and spoken forms of the poem can be interpreted as a form of dialogue²³.

As the video-poem goes on, the soundscapes continue evolving. Yet the main focus remains on water sounds, some gentler and softer, others oriented towards noisy, droning frequencies. There is a strong fidelity between what is shown on screen and what can be heard. When the visual content shows a fast-flowing water stream, the sound suddenly becomes more intense; when instead we are shown images of peaceful ponds and lakes, the audio becomes gentler. It is probable, given their synchronicity, that the recordings were taken in precisely the spots where the videos were shot, and that the post-production sound-editing phase was relatively minimal.

From the second half of the fifth minute of the video, the camera begins turning over and over, hypnotizing the viewer with repetitive movements. Many of the words Creates previously pronounced are now repeated several times, such that their actual meaning drifts away from their letters. Here words no longer possess a proper inner relation linking symbols to references. Instead they gain a new, unique meaning, as of physical sound entities, enriching the already-profound content the piece displays. Eventually the rhythm of the spoken words diminishes until we can hear ‘adieu’ repeated a few times, at which point a final recording of the river marks the conclusion of the video. The ending summarizes the entire life of the river from its birth to its meeting the ocean, thanks to a human-voiced sound pattern mimicking the flow of water using shards of recycled words.

Although River of Rain mainly takes into consideration the relationship of sounds with natural environments, like the  whole Virtual Walk the piece is also much more than this. Concilio has pointed this out in her analysis (2021)²⁴ attempting to identify all the approaches we can adopt while studying Creates’ work: an artifact merging photography, field recordings, written and oral poetry, geology (as it gives scientific data about rocks), linguistics (as it contains traditional dialect) and cultural anthropology (as it pays careful attention to local lore). The composition brings together lyrics and scientific information, and this contributes to an effect Concilio calls didactic²⁵.

Creates seems to invite the listener to make contact with something which is nonhuman, thereby encouraging a deep bond between viewers of the video and the river itself. The employment of field recordings and soundscapes allows the listener to be present virtually with the artist as she performs her poetry. For example, the sound visualizes the snow and ice slowly melting into water and helps us to imagine the rapid flow of the river. As Cage suggests, silence is a utopia²⁶, as in every soundscape there are microsounds generated by the events occurring in that place, and this makes the existence of silence practically impossible.

The constantly overlapping layers of sound of River of Rain alternate with moments of sonic calmness. Yet even then, when it might seem that all that can be perceived is silence, delicate drip-drops actually occur. This silent soundscaping documents the soothing quietness of the nature that surrounds the river. What the artist does with Virtual Walk – very much in the spirit of Schafer – is to document lyrically what she hears in her Boreal Garden. By so doing she preserves unique sonic testimonies of specific moments of the year in specific places of the world.

These recordings share access to how a peculiar spot of our planet sounds. Moreover, through a comparative analysis of soundscapes, it is possible to evaluate climatic and anthropological changes affecting the ecology of sound. As already mentioned, soundscaping is an appropriate way of conducting research on scientific issues such as noise pollution. However, it is also potentially a new approach to reading new media art and literature, as soundscapes can reveal profound feelings, memories and implicit messages about what is happening to humans and nature.

In conclusion, the present essay has tried to read Marlene Creates’ River of Rain by focusing on the famous concept of soundscape coined by R. Murray Schafer. Taking into account the expansion Environmental Humanities studies have seen over the past years, I hope this article can contribute to developing a conscious reading of sound in contemporary literature and digital art. Although sound may not be a central element in written or digital work, it nevertheless can expand the meanings of words and images. Most importantly, it documents how a certain place sounded, and this allows us to think about why that place sounded as it did.

Acknowledgments

The video of River of Rain was directed, shot, recorded and edited by Elizabeth Zetlin. “It was actually Elizabeth’s idea to conclude the video with ‘the artist's voice begins to repeat previously pronounced words randomly, transforming them by erasing their original meaning.’” (From a private e-mail with Marlene Creates).

My warmest thanks to:

Emile Bojesen, Professor of Philosophy and Education and Acting Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Winchester and sound artist and composer, who has helped me find the scientific sound-ecology literature outputs which have been applied to Marlene Creates’ work;

Nikoleta Zampaki, PhD Candidate in Modern Greek Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Nicholas Edward Trethowan, MA in Cultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere Universities, for their remarkable help in editing this article.

Notes

_______________________________________________________

¹ Definition is given by the artist on her website. http://www.marlenecreates.ca/bio.html

² A complete overview of her artistic activity and the relationship with technology is found on her personal website. http://www.marlenecreates.ca

³ Webb, Heather. Cartographies of consciousness-raising: mapping out a feminist approach in the work of Marlene Creates [MA thesis]. Montréal: Concordia University, 1997, 1-7; Concilio, Carmen. New critical patterns in Postcolonial discourse. Historical traumas and environmental issues. Torino: Trauben, 2012, 65-78.

⁴ http://www.marlenecreates.ca

⁵ Concilio, Carmen. New critical patterns in Postcolonial discourse. Historical traumas and environmental issues. Torino: Trauben, 2012, 82.

⁶ Gladwin, Derek. Ecocritical and Geocritical Conjunctions in North Atlantic Environmental Multimedia and Place-Based Poetry in Ecocriticism and Geocriticism. Overlapping Territories in Environmental and Spatial Literary Studies, edited by Tally, Robert T. Jr., Battista, Christine M.. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, 38, 47-51.

⁷ Ibidem.

⁸ Creates’ works have mainly to do with ecology, land and its preservation. “Underlying all my work has been an interest in place — not as a geographical location but as a process that involves memory, multiple narratives, ecology, language, and both scientific and vernacular knowledge.” https://gpsmuseum.eu/locative_art/202/

⁹ In Schafer’s research a complete and exhaustive definition of “soundscape” is defined. See Schafer, Raymond Murray. The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Rochester: Destiny Books, 1993, 7-9.

¹⁰ According to what Schafer declared in an interview in 2013. More see Darò, Carlotta. Avant-gardes sonores en architecture. Dijon: Les Presses du Réel, 2013, 185.

¹¹ Schafer, Raymond Murray. The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Rochester: Destiny Books, 1993, 7-12.

¹² Ibidem.

¹³ “Field recording” means recording sounds (or even music) outside a proper recording studio.

¹⁴ Cage, John. 4’33’’, conceived around 1947-48 and executed for the first time on August 29th, 1952.

¹⁵ Cage, John. Silence: Lectures and Writings, edited by Gann, Kyle. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2011, 3-6.

¹⁶ As explained by Solomon, Larry J.. The Sounds of Silence. John Cage and 4’33’’, 1998/2002, 1-19. https://hugoribeiro.com.br/biblioteca-digital/Solomon-John-Cage-the_sounds_of_silence.pdf

¹⁷ Sub-branches of electronic music are born in the 1960s and 1970s and after the influence of Cage.

¹⁸ http://www.marlenecreates.ca

¹⁹ Concilio, Carmen. Marlene Creates: Land, Nature, and the Forest as Poetry/Museum in Dialogues Between Media, Vol. 5 ICLA: The Many Languages of Comparative Literature, edited by Ferstl, Paul. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, 437-454.

²⁰ Referring to Ferdinand de Saussure’s research on semiotics and linguistics and specifically on the triangle of reference, Creates manages to separate the “symbol” (phonomorphological manifestation of a concept) from the “reference” (the abstract meaning of the symbol to that concept) by over-repeating words without following a proper syntactical order. The triangle was firstly theorized in Ogden, Charles K., Richards, Ivor A.. The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1923, 10-13.

²¹ Concilio, Carmen. Marlene Creates: Land, Nature, and the Forest as Poetry/Museum in Dialogues Between Media, Vol. 5 ICLA: The Many Languages of Comparative Literature, edited by Ferstl, Paul. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, 437-454.

²² The word (acousmatique) was used for the first time referred to music in 1955 by Jérôme Peignot, Pierre Schaefer, when musique concrète was forming as a genre. More see Schaefer, Pierre. Traité des objets musicaux. Paris: Le Seuil, 1966, 701 pp..

²³ Concilio, Carmen. New critical patterns in Postcolonial discourse. Historical traumas and environmental issues. Torino: Trauben, 2012, 65-78.

²⁴ Concilio, Carmen. Marlene Creates: Land, Nature, and the Forest as Poetry/Museum in Dialogues Between Media, Vol. 5 ICLA: The Many Languages of Comparative Literature, edited by Ferstl, Paul. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, 437-454.

²⁵ Ibidem.

²⁶ Cage, John. Silence: Lectures and Writings, edited by Gann, Kyle. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2011, 3-6.

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