Acoustic Ecology and the New Electroacoustic Space of Digital Networks

Abstract

This symposium’s title has changed since I saw it on the web—before my departure from Europe. The title Acoustic Ecology was then squeezed between two ques- tion marks: ?...acoustic ecology...?. This showed at a glance, that Acoustic Ecology (AE) as a term was somehow put into question, at least a topic of discussion in itself. I don’t know why these question marks have been erased. But I think it is interest- ing for many reasons to see that AE is being questioned. It is not only questioned by people from outside of the movement, but also by those who have been dealing with the topic for quite a long time. The latter is particularly interesting: in one of the last issues of Soundscape (Vol. 3 Number 1) some people responded to the question of how they and their work relate to the term Acoustic Ecology, that they would prefer the term Soundscape, as it is less loaded with values. Can artistic and ecological values co-exist—or more specifically: can they inspire each other with- out trivializing each other and,—at the same time,—create something which is alluring and captures the mind and senses. There are enough people, who would doubt this spontaneously. Some of these doubts, not all of them, are due to the fact that— for reasons which remain to be discussed—AE carries the burden of a certain image.