Partnership seed-funded project: ‘Soundings’

‘Soundings’ was a day-long research event at NHM, drawing on Jana Winderen’s sound installation, The River, installed in the Jerwood Gallery, as a point of inspiration. Co-organised by NHM’s Art Programme, the Collections and Culture theme in NHM Science, and colleagues at the School of Arts and Communication Design and the Heritage & Creativity Research Theme at the University of Reading, the event brought together scientific and arts / humanities perspectives on approaches to environmental progress. The event was also an opportunity for colleagues from NHM and Reading to develop research conversations on creative practice, humanities and science for environmental change-making, with bioacoustics and anthropogenic noise as a particular focus.

After an opportunity to experience The River, and a tour of the Urban Nature Project in the redeveloped NHM Gardens, the morning session invited researchers and research enablers from NHM and Reading to discuss their areas of focus and listen to stimulus presentations by colleagues representing different disciplines and practices. Following lunch the participants were joined by a wider group of invitees in the Attenborough Studio, where Jana Winderen gave a presentation about her work, alongside the artist Tania Kovats and NHM Acoustic Biology Researcher Ed Baker, in a session chaired by Reading Professor of Art Florian Roithmayr.

The event drew together experts in art, music, environmental acoustics, sound archives, and rivers, who engaged in lively conversations around the themes suggested by Winderen’s installation and discussed what a 360-degree disciplinary approach to environmental research could look like. Further views and extensive qualitative feedback was provided by a process of ‘Archiving the Day’, designed by Reading Associate Professor of Art Tina O’Connell, aided by students and researchers in the university’s ArtLab.

…one of the key roles of art is to push science to think about the broader context, meanings, and complexities of its research questions… scientists and artists approach things very differently.
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Seed-Funding is available to support the development of collaborative projects to be undertaken by researchers at the University of Reading and the Natural History Museum.