Geolocational Soundwalk as Ecological Choreography: Walking and Listening Towards Ecological Awareness

Abstract

This thesis considers the ecological potential of performing arts with reference to a stimulation of ecological experience of interconnectedness. I then offer a brief overview of two main academic outlooks on performance and ecology. On the one hand, there is a premise of informational models of theatre where ecological contribution is represented by facing the audience with factual information on ecological crisis. On the other, the ecocritical potential lies in producing ecological experiences of ecological awareness. Performances such as these offer the audience ways of attending and perceiving which produce ecological awareness, a term coined by Timothy Morton. Delving into various interpretations of ecology, I sketch out some of its key characteristics, with an awareness of the human's position within the interconnected nature of ecosystems of environments being the main one. Choreography as a definition of things in space and time means refers to performance’s way of producing such ecological experiences. The case study Sandbox and the form of geolocational soundwalks are an example of ecological choreography because of their use of listening and the mechanics of the medium to produce an experience of ecological awareness. Interconnected characteristics of geolocational soundwalks where its realisation is dependent on geographical location in combination with sound make it an example of ecological choreography.