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Mapping rates of change in nature to art and music

The second movement of the digital video and musical piece, Harbingers, is called Lakes Not Frozen. The idea for this piece grew from research into subtle indicators of change in our environment, or "harbingers" of climate change, that might lend themselves to artistic work incorporating real world scientific data. 

Looking for temperature observations from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and timings for winter freezing, I located a public dataset and identified a lake with a trend for when it first froze between the years 1900-2020. 

The Lakes Not Frozen movement contain visual elements that express in an abstract way the severity of winters during the period of observation and change over time. In light of the observed trend that cold places are warming faster than warm places, a lake in the Sierras of Northern California serves well to demonstrate subtle shifts in freezing and thawing, and by extension, available water in surrounding lakes and rivers from snow or rain. Less snow and ice over time impacts trees, plants and animal species that depend on cold winters and storage of water in solid form.

 

 

How are we, the artists and composers, responding to the data sample from the lake observations? 

 

 

Rates of change are being translated and applied to sequences of video and music in interpretative ways and using mathematical modeling--the primary guiding principle for all three movements of Harbingers. 

In Lakes Not Frozen, we're accelerating tempos and deconstructing sequences of music and video using forms of digital processing to distort and disrupt the original forms--just as ice cracks, breaks apart, melts into water and runs off beyond the borders of its former container, the lake.

For the composers and live musicians, this shattering of anticipated form and tempo offers a challenge to respond, whether to play elements as counterpoints, in harmony with the former structure, or to shift to keep up and align with the changes. This challenge is akin to those which we all might face and need to adapt to, in order to continue "life as we know it", or to build new structures for survival in our shared environment. 

The tension around noticing change and responding to it is the key driver behind Harbingers. Composers include Paul Godwin, Miguel Noya, and Aron Faria.

-by Ameera Godwin, Video Artist/Artistic Director, Myrtle Tree Arts, for Earth Dayta


Harbingers will be performed at the event, Earth Dayta. Please see information and links below.

Web site: https://www.arconservancy.org/event/special-event-earth-dayta/

Make a reservation: https://app.donorview.com/3PM6o
$10/car

Event Location:
941 Cold Springs Rd.
Placerville, CA 95667 + Google Map
Insta: @myrtletreearts


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