A Different Pitch: Listening to Water Through Contemporary Art in a Time of Extraction

Authors

  • Ruth Beer
  • Caitlin Chaisson

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.OI.10.2.6

Keywords:

sound, extraction, water

Abstract

This article addresses the intersections of water, extraction, and environmental justice through a consideration of sound in contemporary artworks by Ruth Beer, Rebecca Belmore, and Mia Feuer. Qualities of sound have been tied to environmental studies and assessment for decades, but these artists consider audio-visual and immersive situations that foster the ability to listen amidst ecological complexity.

Author Biographies

Ruth Beer

Ruth Beer’s interdisciplinary artistic research is informed by the social sciences and humanities within the expanded field of contemporary art and media. Working across sculpture, experimental and documentary video, woven structures/textiles, and sound, her research-creation practice engages with issues of cultural and ecological impacts of resource industry expansion within culturally diverse communities—in particular, rural Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Canada’s northern regions. Recent SSHRC-funded research-creation projects as Principal Investigator include Shifting Ground: Mapping Energy, Communities and Geographies in the North (2019-2023) and Trading Routes: Grease Trails, Oil Pipelines (2013-2015).

Caitlin Chaisson

Caitlin Chaisson is a writer and independent curator. Her research-based practices intersect around questions pertaining to cultural production and the environment. She is the founder of Far Afield, an artist-led initiative that supports rural and regionally-connected artistic and curatorial practices. Recent projects have been presented at Access Gallery (Vancouver, BC), Ranger Station Art Gallery (Harrison, BC), Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles, CA), and Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity (Banff, AB). She holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2016).

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Published

2020-03-30

How to Cite

Beer, R., & Chaisson, C. (2020). A Different Pitch: Listening to Water Through Contemporary Art in a Time of Extraction. Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies, 10(2), 153–173. https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.OI.10.2.6

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 2 (2019): Open Issue

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License
This work by https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/imaginations is licensed under a  Creative Commons 4.0 International License although certain works referenced herein may be separately licensed, or the author has exercised their right to fair dealing under the Canadian Copyright Act.