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Dec 29, 2022

"Our problem is that sound is not important in our culture. We know the world from the visual, not from the other senses. I had to be taught other ways of understanding." --Bernie Krause

Earwitness to Place

"Seeing is a relatively passive event. Hearing, on the other hand, is almost entirely physical; component parts of our being respond to incoming waves of air pressure, oscillating in cyclical patterns that are transformed into meaningful signals, indicators that are life-affirming and comforting, or irrelevant, or predictive of danger. Every living organism produces some kind of signal. Hearing those impressions, however faint, either completes what we see or supplants seeing entirely." In this interview with Bernie Krause, poet Erin Robinsong speaks to the renowned musician and bioacoustician about biophonies of place, practices of earwitnessing, and the intimacy of listening.