DAWN PHASE, Junk Anima, 07:28, Toronto/Munich, 2023

Junk Anima is a sample-based synthetic sound work illustrating the unique sonic experience of whales and its invisibilization by humans in Antarctic waters.

The ‘junk’ of a whale is the structure found in the forehead, originally labelled this way by whalers who dismissed this portion of the whale as worthless. This so-called ‘junk’ is a key organ that is involved in communication, echolocation, and their experience of this world. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) estimates that in 2023, over 100,000 tourists will visit Antarctica, a 40% increase from pre-pandemic years. While hunting and whaling has a visible effect on populations, tourism and other human activities often have invisible ones. Samples of hydrophone recordings found in several online databases dedicated to ship noise, have been synthesised to simulate this barrage of sound produced by the increase in human traffic. The samples are combined with an archival narration from a 1940s instructional documentary on whaling, our own instrumental stylings, and layered over a hydrophone recording of ambient Antarctic waters. This work reminds us how often humans have labelled the anima of a non-human as junk, and shifts the ear towards our collective impact on these individuals and the continued human-centred narrative.

Deepest thanks to those who are dedicated to the data collection of ship noise, and the efforts to make sound and light pollution records open access. Special thanks to David Santos Domínguez, and the SILENCIO database project, for the generous guidance and open mindedness towards our artistic endeavour.

DAWN PHASE is a sound project initiated by L. M. Ramsey and Kalas Liebfried. The project employs data found in open-access archives and their interpretation through doom, drone and ambient compositions.

L. M. Ramsey is a Toronto-based archivist and imaging specialist. Her artistic practice employs data visualisation and sonification and is informed by archival structures, computational ecosystems, and the ethical considerations of non-human animals, plants and machines. Her recent work, Living Data, Presumed Dead, exhibited at Critical Distance Gallery (2022), was the commissioned result of a residency with Trinity Square Video, alongside an artist’s book co published with Art Metropole.

Kalas Liebfried is a multidisciplinary artist and curator, based in Munich. He studied sculpture and time-based media at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich and Philosophy at the LMU Munich. Central to his work is the exploration of the sculptural and socio-political potentials of sound. Methodologically decisive are collaborations and interactions, in which other artists and audiences are understood as an active and formative part of the projects. Liebfried is founder of the non-entity organisation for sound PARA, and co-organizes the independent art association Rosa Stern Space. In 2022 he founded the interactive encyclopaedia “Fragments of Sonic Extinction” (www.sonicextinction.net).