In this MA thesis, I am focusing on two fields: Anthropocene and sound. Over the course of
the theoretical part, I link these two seemingly disparate themes through human evolution,
ecology, art, and social criticism. I begin with the definition, creation, and manipulation of a
sound, followed by the chapter about the evolution of hearing and speech, more precisely
about the development of the corresponding organs. Afterwards, through the history and
technical details of sound, I introduce sound’s properties, types of sound synthesis and sound
recording as well as sound design. I continue with describing Anthropocene, where I explain
its beginnings, and consequences of human invasion in nature, where I also express my own
thoughts about contemporary society. I discuss ways in which humans are affecting natural
habitats with sound and describe how that is harming them. Afterward, I write about past
mass extinction events and warn about the current one. For the optimistic conclusion, I
introduce how we as individuals can re-find the symbiosis we once had with the nature and
talk about the organizations, which are fighting for this symbiosis. In the practical part, I
present the dystopic present in the shape of an interactive sound installation A New Natural
World, and describe its production. The mentioned work communicates the bitter truth of
mass extinction through the granulation of animals’ sounds, whose existence is in hanging by
a thread.
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