Hydrophonia Barcelona 2010 :: Raising Awareness of Ocean Noise :: October, 29-30, 2010 :: Plaza de Catalunya 9, Barcelona, Spain, 08002 :: Featuring: live ocean noise inspired performances by Tomoko Sauvage, Kim Cascone, Lee Patterson, Enrico Coniglio, Emiliano Zeleda, Mike Rooke, Lars Kinderman, and Gianni Pavan ::

Also see interview with Kim Cascone: Kim Cascone Talks about Ocean Noise and Sound Art at “SynthMusic&Electronics ::

I’ve been interested in hydrophone recording for some time now but it wasn’t until I stumbled across this book: ‘How to Build & Use Low Cost Hydrophones’ by Frank Watlington in a used book store that I decided I wanted to build one for myself and do some recording since I live by the ocean. Once I made a couple of hydrophones and did some recording with them I wanted to increase the quality so I did some research and found other artists also interested in hydrophone construction and recording. I was surprised that so many artists were experimenting with hydrophones of various types and using them for recording all sorts of underwater sounds. I’m not all that interested in recordings of whales or dolphins but more in strange phenomena or processes we aren’t aware of. And that of course is when I learned about the growing issue of ocean noise and its devastating effect on all marine life.

What is it specifically that you want people to know about ocean noise?
Well mainly that it exists, is a big problem and it affects us too even though we don’t hear it. The health of the oceans reflects the health of the planet. I find the five gyres of plastic also very distressing and would like to bring some awareness to this issue too at some point. I think they go hand in hand because they both say: the ocean is where we dump our pollution. And we have to change that dangerous thinking through education.
Read more: http://synth.me/music-gear/hydrophonia-project-kim-cascone-talks-about-ocean-noise-and-sound-art

See also:
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw_international/media_center/press_releases/12_3_…
http://www.politics.co.uk/Microsites2/364355/graphics/OceanNoiseSummary.pdf
http://www.pacificenvironment.org/article.php?id=2931
and http://www.hydrophonia.com