Audioreactive Chiroptera
Danny Zurc & Santiago Franco
Colombia
Conceptually, the work is based on recognizing the importance of biodiversity for planet Earth, which should be considered a mandatory action for humans. However, the high demands of the Homo sapiens species to satisfy their needs hinder any attempt to harmonize with nature. Therefore, indifference towards understanding interspecies interactions is growing.
One of the groups of animals that interact indirectly with humans are bats. These animals provide food by being seed dispersers, pollinators and insect pest controllers. Despite this, flying mammals have been stigmatized for centuries. Therefore, through the work "Audioreactive Chiroptera" we seek to communicate the importance of these organisms for ecosystems through an artistic interpretation in the framework of bioart, combining bioacoustics and digital arts.
For the authors of this artistic work, the theoretical framework that supports the creation is found in the discussions around the concept of "cognitive territory" or "cognitive domain", based on the understanding of the studies on the cognition of these mammals carried out by Galambos (1942) and Griffin (1965, 1988); as well as in the interpretation of the concept "cognitive map" proposed by Toledo et al. (2020). The work is an artistic interpretation of the ultrasonic screeches emitted by some sonospecies of flying mammals when they forage for food.
This proposal is conceived as a way to disturb the viewer about the importance of flying mammals to sustain life on planet earth. The work is formalized from the recognition of sounds in the ultrasound spectrum emitted by bats. For this purpose, it was necessary to convert the sounds into the audible spectrum using Avisoft SASLab Pro software (Avisoft Bioacoustics). And for the generation of the moving audios, the TouchDesigner software (by Derivative, Inc.) was used.
With the above, an expository documentary type edition was made, in which an off voice is found which guides a message about the acoustics of bats. This edition was made using Adobe Premiere Pro software. The sounds used were taken from the Biodiversity Sound Bank "Ocaína CuaFrom The Museo de Ciencias Naturales de La Salle of The Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano. The documentary is projected on a P3.91 LED screen.