Propositions for Listening

BACKGROUND In recent years, sound maps have become an important method for both the arts and geosciences to engage with the sonic representation of a specific location. Sound maps commonly feature a visual geographical map that contains links to field recording data that mark a specific location on the map. Such maps can often be simplistic georeferencing mixed with amateur field recordings. 'Propositions for Listening' expands and complicates this framework by experimenting with a generative custom-made platform that aims to provide a space of collection, concentration and distribution that uniquely reorganises itself for each individual listener. CONTRIBUTION 'Propositions for Listening' is a browser-based generative sound map of Australia’s first cooperative wind farm, Hepburn Wind. Designed in collaboration with Melbourne design studio Public Office, the hardware hosting the project is located on-site and is directly powered by the generative energy of the turbines. The project’s unique coding system references the wind farms generative and adaptive energy production by recomposing and reconfiguring the order of sounds each time a user accesses the online site. SIGNIFICANCE 'Propositions for Listening' was created during a month-long residency at the Hepburn Wind farm in and was commissioned by Avantwhatever Festival ($1000). The project was supported by the Australian Council for the Arts ($4000) and the Hepburn Shire Council ($2000). In response to the global pandemic, the work was displayed online during the festival in July 2020. A forthcoming audio-visual publication detailing the project will be published in JAR journal in 2022.