[-empyre-] November -empyre- discussion, DURATION: PASSAGE, PERSISTENCE, SURVIVAL

[Hans Baumann]

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Thank you for the introduction Tim. The exchange that has occurred
over the past several weeks has been exceptionally rewarding to follow
and I would like to extend this discussion. I am specifically
interested in the following question raised by Kate Brettkelly:

"When we celebrate the deep time of earth, do we actively overlook the
durations and experiences of indigenous peoples?"

My contribution to the CCA Biennial, "The Crystalline Basement", was -
in short - an examination of geothermal energy extraction from a
humanist perspective. All of the themes that Kate mentions in her post
- deep time, earth history, universalist frameworks - are embedded in
the science and practice of geothermal engineering. Regardless of its
"green" credentials, geothermal energy extraction is guided by
utilitarian concerns: how much can the system produce, is it
economically viable, et cetera. Within this paradigm of extraction,
"deep time" and other geological concerns have the capacity to enact
the sort of erasure that Kate refers to in the above quote. At
Standing Rock, Black Mesa and countless other sites, indigeneity has
come into direct conflict with the desire to exploit the material
remains of deep time.

Over the past year, I have led a series of storytelling projects with
members of the Navajo community. Early in the genesis of this project,
I was introduced to the Navajo concept (and I am paraphrasing here)
that narrative, identity and geography are mutualistic concepts. As
one storyteller - a man named Ron Maldonado - explained it:

“As people lose their stories, they lose a sense of their own being.
You can’t tie yourself back to the landscape anymore … In order to
know who you are, you have to know where you came from … It's a
different way of seeing the world … and it’s a history that goes back
to the beginning of time”

Over the course of working with Ron, I came to understand "deep time"
as something that grounded him and that acted as a source of his
identity. Is this the same universalist concept to which Kate refers?
I would argue that it is not, and I would like to suggest that
concepts of deep time, earth history and the geological realm are
inherently benign. Their generative capacity and their potential to
erase, suppress or silence ultimately reflect the spectrum of our
relationships to the nonhuman world, whether this is as a source of
difference or one of connection.

Best,

Hans Baumann


--
H. Baumann
310.980.4165
www.hbaumann.com
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[Annie P. Lewandowski]

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Thank you Tim and Renate for the invitation to be a part of the -empyre- soft-skinned space.

In early autumn 2017, I began meeting with bioacoustics researcher Katy Payne to listen to recordings of humpback whale song Katy and Roger Payne recorded from 1969-1988 in Bermuda and Hawaii. While many animals sing structured songs, the Paynes made the groundbreaking discovery that humpback whale songs evolve, progressively and continually, over time, with all singers in a population participating in the changes. There are changes in pitch, duration, and rhythm that occur as male whales mimic and develop each other’s song during the breeding season. Innovations enter the song at the micro level within each season, and at the macro level across spans of months, years, and decades. This is a striking example of composition in a non-human animal.

In the piece I composed for the 2018 Cornell Council for the Arts Biennial, “Cetus: Life After Life,” extracts of Hawaiian whale song sessions from 1977 and 1981 are broadcast through four speakers facing out from the top of McGraw Tower in duet with percussionist Sarah Hennies performing on the Cornell Chimes. The piece begins with the 1977 recording. When the chimes enter, they follow the contour and development of one of the humpback whale song themes recorded throughout the 1977 season. At the completion of a 1977 selection, the chimes make a dramatic shift in texture, color, contour, and rhythm, reflecting the cumulative innovations that occurred in whale song during this four-year period. After a brief chimes solo, a recording of whale song from the same Hawaiian population, now in 1981, enters. The chimes and whale song duet for the remainder of the piece, modeling how humpback whales must be listening while singing, simultaneously but independently -- the chimes performer listening and integrating subtle changes inspired by the 1981 recording into her song.

The 1981 recording was specifically chosen for “Cetus” as it offers a special window into whale behavior – four minutes into the song, the sound attenuates as the whale swims to the surface of the water to breathe, reminding the listener that whales, like humans, are mammals.

You can listen to a recording of the live performance here:

https://powerdove.bandcamp.com/track/cetus-life-after-life

The slowly shifting clouds were extraordinary the night of the performance - I’ve included a picture on the Bandcamp page.



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