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An interactive environment created using 3ds max and Unreal software. The project puts the player in the role of a castaway who finds himself on a deserted island overgrown with tall bushes and inhabited by insect-like creatures. The person using the project finds a collection of elements that are interpretations of children’s toys, remnants of the Anthropocene and whirling insects, accompanied by the melody of a lullaby. These objects allude to the need for arrangement and redirection of attention, which is reinforced in humans from birth as a cure for anxiety and loneliness.

In the island’s playground, the player must manipulate objects to move through the environment. The process of rearranging the island’s elements involves clearing, depositing and changing the current of the river surrounding the island, which leads to a reduction in the insect population and then lowering the water level. Every move of the player, that is, every interference with the island’s ecosystem has negative consequences, and the player is responsible for his impact on the environment.

The project refers to the disastrous hydrological situation in Poland. It is contributed not only by climate change, but primarily by human activity. Catchment areas – i.e. areas from which water flows down watercourses into a single body of water, such as seas, rivers and lakes – have been heavily transformed and improperly drained. This, combined with heavy rains, prolonged periods of drought and faulty hydrological measures, means that most water is lost irretrievably. The water footprint of a statistical Pole is nearly 4,000 liters, and 80% of consumption comes from surface water. As a consequence of these factors, 50% of the country’s land area is at risk of drought and could become a desert in the future.

https://izakoczanowska.com/Evaporation

002

2022

002

2022

Amplifying the Voice of a City River: Ślepiotka 2022

Agata Polak

#Academic

#Anthropocene rivers

#bodies of water

#documentary

#feminist environmental humanities

2022

It is a soundscape of the Ślepiotka River catchment which flows through Katowice. It is a kind of record of the layers of human history and the natural environment preserved on an audio carrier.

Transferring the acoustics of the catchment, with all its environmental contexts, was possible thanks to the field recording method with the use of the ZOOM H5 sound recorder. Sonification of landscape, related to the field called the ecology of music, helps to notice the multitude of elements, both positive and negative, connected with noise pollution. The author managed to register, among other things, the low drone sounds of helicopters flying over the nearby hospital, as well as a close encounter with a pack of wild boars using the riverbed as an ecological corridor. Thanks to this function of the river, animals, plants, and fungi can move safely between their habitats in the city’s surroundings. The waterfront areas of Ślepiotka are among the most interesting in this industrial part of Upper Silesia. This river has its origins in the ‘Ochojec’ nature reserve, which, despite the degradation of the environment, still shelters some remnants of the old Silesian forest. In its shadow hide the relict habitats of the protected Streptopus amplexifolius and Meripilus giganteus. Another rare, protected species appearing in the Ślepiotka Valley is the giant horsetail, which can grow almost 2 m high. It is a reminder not only of the riparian forests but also of the wet meadows.

The album has been divided into three acts referring successively to three different areas of the studied river together with the corresponding geographical coordinates:

Source: 50°12’17.0″N 19°00’14.5″E 08:08

Middle: 50°12’59.2″N 18°58’44.2″E 04:34

Estuary: 50°13’42.7″N 18°55’27.5″E 10:11

It is available for public listening via Bandcamp.

https://plk423.bandcamp.com/album/wzmocnienie-g-osu-rzeki-miejskiej-lepiotka-2022?fbclid=IwAR0mHWkfFDwN67Ij45sMb-9HrWrbbmhuz7iZgJ95vb-1GVjxk8J_B1XwXFo

It is a part of the bachelor’s thesis entitled: Natural and socio-cultural characteristics of the Ślepiotka river basin, carried out at the University of Silesia, Faculty of Natural Sciences, in cooperation with Dr. Piotr Siwek (Director of the Aquamatics – interdisciplinary management of water environments).

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