Ground-breaking: Scientific and sonic perceptions of environmental change in the African Sahel

Abstract

Soils surrounding ancient settlements can hold evidence of the activities of past societies. To seek an understanding of how past societies have reacted and contributed to environmental change requires many data sources. The realtime audiovisual installation Ground-breaking problematizes the presentation of such data, gained in this case through the image-analysis of soil materials. These data are used to connote environmental events and consequent human responses. By combining these data with audiovisual synthesis and environmental recordings, the authors present a basis for developing conceptualizations of new locales undergoing environmental change; the visual and sonic narratives that are developed allow the art-science interface to be explored. ©2009 ISAST.