Sonic ethnography artistic research project in Valparai (A collaborative project by CNRS - France, IRD – France, The Indian Sonic Research Organization, India and Science Gallery Bangalore, India) hill station in the Western Ghats, India with a unique landscape topography and complex forest ecosystem.

A study through sound the nuances of the ecological issues due to the monoculture (plantationocene) as well as the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the natural environment and restored patches of forest ecosystem. The impacts of monoculture and excess use of pesticides have tremendous impact on the soil, forest biodiversity and animal habitat.The sounds generated by human activities like pesticide sprays and vehicle engines will be studied and presented in spatial audio format to advocate better sonic outputs which would not interfere with the communication systems of animals in a forest. Here I plan to work with multichannel sound to create a field for direct awareness about the harmful impacts on the environment due to massive construction work and growth of tourism industry in the region.The next part of the project will happen in the first week of March 2023, looking into forms like installation, digital media, audio-visual, podcasts, text to disseminate the work.

The blog written by me as a part of The Indian Sonic Research Organisation is a set of field notes with all corresponding sounds from our first field trip to Valparai:

www.theisro.org

These are a set of field notes written by ISRO artist in residence, Pratyay Raha about our last field trip to Valparai in Tamil Nadu. This is a set of notes on our regular series on acoustic ecology, listening and environmental sounds. Field notes Monday, December 5, 2022: We started with an introductory session by Dr. David Picherit (Anthropologist and Researcher at CNRS France) He briefed us on the project which he termed ‘Sensitive Approach to Forest’. The key areas of exploration discussed w

The Team

Dr. David Picherit - Anthropologist at CNRS · laboratoire d'ethnologie et de sociologie comparative et Institut Francais de Pondicherry

Dr. Doris Barboni - Ecologist at The French Institute of Pondicherry

Dr. Sarah Benabou - Anthropologist at Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD - France)

Gayatri Manu - Senior Program Associate at Science Gallery, Bangalore

Ashank Chandapillai - Program Associate at Science Gallery, Bangalore

Abhinav Suresh - Sound Designer and Location Sound Recordist (TheISRO, Bangalore)

Pratyay Raha - Sound Artist and Composer (TheISRO, Bangalore)