Ecotopian Toolkit Workshop: Richard Hamilton, Auscultation Points

Auscultation Points refer to medically listening to specific parts of the human body in order to identify any health issues with the overall person.  Using sound recording techniques and post production sound processing, the piece will act as a sort of diagnosis of the overall ecosystem of the Morris Arboretum & Gardens.  It will allow the listener to meditate and experience parts of the Arboretum that we can normally hear without any aid and things we as humans cannot hear.  These unheard sounds of the Arboretum may even play a larger role in the health and stability of the overall system than things we can hear

Immerse yourself and listen deeply to this new soundscape right where it was recorded at Morris! Learn firsthand how the sounds were captured and even try your hand at recording some yourself! Rich will be there to answer questions and share his expertise. We hope to see you there.

Headphones are necessary to experience Auscultation Points. Limited pairs will be available to borrow— but we recommend bringing your own!

Richard Hamilton is the co-owner of Dragonfly Audio Post and an award-winning sound designer, mixer, and film/tv composer with over a decade of experience.  He has mixed and sound designed for clients such as Google, Coors Light, Verizon, and Waze.  His commercial credits include a 2020 Super Bowl Spot for IDEA Schools, two short branded documentaries for Google Earth and NASA, and an Webby Award-winning branded documentary for The Harvard Project & the NAAF about a Native American School district in Southern Arizona dealing with COVID-19.

Rich’s soundscapes have also been featured at art festivals worldwide, including the Megapolis Sound Art Festival in Philadelphia and Radiophrenia in the Centre for Contemporary Art in Glasgow, Scotland.

This year, PPEH, in collaboration with the Morris Arboretum & Gardens, presents Ecotopian Tools for Multispecies Flourishing. These tools are designed to support diverse, multi-species communities, including humans, amidst the crisis of extinction fueled by habitat loss, climate change, and other Anthropocene woes.

This ongoing initiative to craft and share ecotopian tools across the Delaware Valley takes a utopian approach to ecological crisis as a way to confront feelings of helplessness and apathy that often arise in the face of global warming.