Thelmo Cristovam
After reading into Thelmo’s work I found this on Bandcamp the description says this.
https://thelmocristovam.bandcamp.com/album/stenella-longirostris
The work that Thelmo Cristovam takes to Fernando de Noronha challenges symbolic boundaries between art and science, synthesizing them as a method of sound mapping of the archipelago, in a continuous attempt to understand the world and to invent tools to research and describe it. in the form of art and consequently, preserve it.
This research trip where I accompanied him, in October 2018, was the continuation of work that Thelmo has been doing for decades, in Northeast Brazil and the Amazon, mapping soundscapes of places where one can stay without the intercession of human noise. or sound signals not coming from natural phenomena. As much for art as for science and finally for politics, it is of immense importance to record these environments, which tend to disappear as the so-called modernities gain. These recordings guarantee, in some perspective, that this natural heritage will be preserved for the future.
This time, what takes us to the archipelago are the underwater sound noises, especially from the cetaceans that inhabit this rich maritime environment. This work takes place in collaboration with the NGO Golfinho Rotador, which since 1990, together with ICMBio, has been working on research and preservation of this species and the sustainability of its habitat.
I found the recordings really lovely to listen to and had similar themes to Gordon Hempton on the importance of silence and at the border between science, and artistic endeavours of sound-based recordings, and a good map in a non-linear way/format. He seems to enjoy not making an actual map but more of the sound collection as perseveration.
What I did find interesting is he is recording in a human way of listening, preserving recordings for humans, but without human interference? I think as a political statement it does raise good questions, but I think recordings with a human presence for the sake of stating that it is better is a confusing argument for me at least.