SOUND OBSESSED
5. Llyr x Lindred x @symbios.wiki
Biotic Unraveling
In "Biotic Unraveling" by Llyr, Lindred, and @symbios.wiki, a lush and sentimental landscape representing healthy and abundant biodiversity is punctuated and disrupted by percussive impacts and textural abrasions whose intensity inversely track trends from the Living Planet Report 2022 (WWF/ZSL), which shows averaged relative population levels for studied animal populations since 1970. Curves for five geographic regions drive selected parameters of distinct sounds, allowing the listener to hear their differing trajectories, while the global ‘Living Planet Index’ curve controls the retrigger rate of an all-encompassing thud illustrating an average relative decline of 69% over the course of the piece.
The artistic data sonification is intertwined with thousands of AI-generated images to create a homage to both Godfrey Reggio’s iconic film "Koyaanisquatsi" and John Michael Boling’s video for Oneohtrix Point Never’s "Boring Angel". This technique, a deliberate pastiche, probes the ironic nature of reproducing and consuming art in the digital age, where "poor images"—low-resolution, easily reproducible, and often devalued—serve as the raw material for artistic sincerity.
The result is an audio-visual artwork that confronts the urgent issue of diminishing biodiversity on Earth through the lens of data sonification and artificial intelligence; simultaneously provoking reflection on ecological, or ‘biotic’, degradation and the decline of the communication mediums which have the power to drive awareness and change.
Note: Data license does not permit minting on Zora. For those not at Sonar 2024, the piece will be published publically at a later date.
Stills from ‘Biotic Unraveling’, Llyr x Lindred x @symbios.wiki, 2024
The Living Planet Index
The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a measure of the state of the world's biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats. This makes it a relevant indicator for Goals 14 (Life Below Water) and 15 (Life On Land) of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The global Living Planet Index (1970 to 2018)
Reproduced from Living Planet Report 2022 (WWF/ZSL)
Reproduced from Living Planet Report 2022 (WWF/ZSL)
The Approach
The starting point of this piece was a synth and vocal soundscape layered alongside a natural field recording. Data curves representing averaged population trends globally and regionally were then printed as automation curves in Ableton Live and mapped to parameter macros related to auditory intensity of a selection of percussive and textural sounds. Becoming more intense with downward trends in biodiversity and less intense with relative increases, we can hear the lush soundscape being interfered with in tandem with these changes. Visually we see diminishing biodiversity translated into thousands of AI-generated images created using a data-driven prompt matrix, machine information retrieval techniques, and 3D images of Earth within ComfyUI and Touchdesigner.
AI prompts derived from Koyaanisqatsi; Lindred in studio
Averaged relative animal population levels by region from 1970 to 2018 as smoothed automation data in Ableton Live; extracted from .csv using Manifest Audio’s Sonfication Tools
ARTIST BIOS:
Llyr makes music and sonic ecosystems. With one foot in the rave and the other committed to widescreen dynamics, dancefloor bangers sit side-by-side with textural ambient, sweeping harmonies and freeform electronica.
Lindred (US) creates twisted holy hymns, hyper-emotional music with glistening melodies and underworld angel vocals. Weaving sonic fantasy worlds, their music pulls you in with tender devotion and a fall from grace marked by razor sharp synths and watery escapes of blissful noise.
@symbios.wiki is an audio-visual artist based in Berlin. Her work uses emergent generative computing to explore the limits of simulation and hyper-reality, invoking the uncanny as a tool to extract empathy.