This artistic research project reflects on the hidden dimensions of nonhuman sounding and how to remain present to them without seeking to capture or define them. It asks: How can artistic and ecological approaches to sound support ways of being-with nonhuman sounding that remain present to its hidden dimensions within the mesh and entangled relations?
Working from the premise that certain nonhuman soundings are either inaudible (e.g., infrasound, ultrasound) or ineffable (sensed through relational, embodied presence but resistant to articulation) for humans, this research draws on the typology proposed by Farina, Elridge, and Li (2021), which distinguishes latent and sensed soundscapes. Rather than aiming to access or translate these phenomena, the project adopts a methodology grounded in situated presence, sonic relationality, and perceptual partiality.
This approach combines embodied listening practices, field recording (using hydrophones and geophones), spectrographic analysis, and reflective artistic methods, including video-art, photography, instrument-sculpture building, creative writing, and composition. These practices are framed as composting: a slow, durational process through which sonic encounters are digested, broken down, and recombined over time, continually shifting, decaying, and generating new knowledge and thinking, rather than being fully captured (Haraway 2016).
The research is situated within and contributes to what König (2024) describes as a polyphonic transformation in artistic practice: a shift away from centralized spectacle and global expansion toward small-scale, locally rooted artistic actions that cultivate resonant, relational exchange. Following Haraway’s (2016) call to “stay with the trouble,” this project does not seek resolution or revelation, but cultivates attentiveness to what remains unknowable and to the entangled conditions from which nonhuman sounding emerges.