Electroacoustic Performance and Artist Talk with the Whale Liberation Front

Whale Liberation Front members Peter Johnson Bowling and Cory Diane will perform a live, electro-acoustic piece in relationship to their installation Untitled, or, They’ve been singing since the gulf was born. This piece is rooted in their long term sonic practices in solidarity with the Gulf Whale and broader Gulf of Mexico ecosystems. Utilizing zither, synthesizers, voice, water, and rare Gulf recordings, this performance will imagine a sonic reclamation of waters monopolized by sounds of oil extraction, centering Gulf Whale song in an immersive, evolving, spatialized soundscape.

Peter Johnson Bowling is a multi-instrumentalist improviser, composer, music producer, sound designer, arranger, music technologist, & collaborator based in New Orleans. Bowling works primarily in live music performance, group/collaborative devising, and experimental live composing, in addition to scoring and sound design. His interests include live electroacoustic music, multichannel spatial speaker compositions/installations, electronic improvisation, and multidisciplinary collaboration.

Cory Diane is a composer, performer, researcher, and sound artist based in New Orleans. Much of their practice explores sound and vibration as ways of knowing, connecting climate justice, marine science, gravitational wave astronomy, and lived experience. Their long-term practice, “Reverie,” engages the soundscape of the Gulf of Mexico in relation to and in solidarity with Gulf Whales. Their broader work spans chamber orchestral composition, installation, creative technology, and electroacoustic performance. An active collaborator, they are a member of Wit’s End Brass Band and New Orleans Musicians for Palestine, performing regularly throughout New Orleans.

This event is presented as part of An Aesthetics of Resilience, a collaborative research initiative of the Institute of the Arts and Sciences and the Friedlaender Lab at UC Santa Cruz. The project brings scientists, artists, humanists, and activists together to examine multiple experiences of vulnerability in the face of climate change and is supported by a University of California Office of the President California Climate Action Seed Grant, with additional support from the Coha Nowark Art + Science Fund.

Free