Wes McRae | May 1, 2025 – Atlanta, GA

Challenging students to think about climate change and the environment from new perspectives, the Sonic Ecology collaborative concert presented works derived from defensive sounds of moths, the aurora borealis, and glacial ice in the The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design.

"Today we're facing climate change and mass extinction events. We now have scientists working with writers and artists and musicians capturing our experiences, sometimes in the form of documentation, sometimes in the form of art," said Jeremy Muller, instructor in the School of Music. "The good news is all art forms can offer a way forward and reconnect as human species, a collective organism."

To build this connection between art and science, Muller collaborated with Emily Weigel, senior academic professional in the School of Biological Sciences. "What we wanted to do is try to give our students an opportunity to develop a different way of thinking about their own discipline by looking at the world through a different lens and, in this case, hearing the world differently," Weigel said. "For biologists to think about it like musicians, and for musicians to hear science the way that a scientist hears it." 

After opening the concert with the Georgia Tech Laptop Orchestra performing In a Large Open Space, by James Tenney, in the central open space of the Kendeda Building, the remainder of the concert focused on the works of visiting artist Matthew Burtner. Burtner's music, which he describes as ecoacoustics, captures or generates sounds from natural sources.

"It's been absolutely fantastic to be here and to visit with Emily, her labs, and the biology students and see the kind of vibrant science and arts collaboration that happening here," Burtner said. 

For Auroras, a composition based on capturing the electromagnetic energy of auroras and running them across an audio circuit, the concert presented a new approach, Burtner said. "The amazing Georgia Tech Laptop Orchestra programmed their own instruments to play along with the score, and these instruments are electronic instruments, which is the first time that it's been done like this."

"They listened to the sounds of the auroras and designed their instruments to sound like the auroral sounds, which is quite amazing."

Students from the Computer Music Composition class assisted with live sound setup and mixing for this concert.

The concert was made possible by an Arts@Tech Catalyst Grant, Muller said. The Office of the Associate Vice Provost for the Arts awarded Arts at Tech Catalyst Grants to nine GT faculty and staff members in January 2025.

These grants support groundbreaking, multidisciplinary arts programming that fosters creativity and collaboration across campus. These projects align with Arts at Tech’s mission to advance the Georgia Institute of Technology Strategic Plan, which aims to serve students, integrate arts for learning, create new knowledge and push artistic boundaries, engage with arts and entertainment industries, and connect communities through the arts.

Catalyst Grant recipients will document their learnings, measure impact, and explore ways to integrate these projects and initiatives into the Institute’s long-term arts ecosystem.

Along with the concert, Muller's grant will produce a report, a class composition album, and an ecoacoustics at Georgia Tech website.