Listening to anthropogenic underwater life
What is society's perception of human impact on the marine environment? How can it be represented? It was around these questions that two teams of researchers and engineers met. On the one hand, a team of anthropologists and film-makers wanted to extend their reflections on the Anthropocene to the marine environment; on the other, a team of oceanographers and ecologists wanted to approach their expertise in marine pollution from a sensory perspective, and to open up their practice to new forms of representation through images and sound of the phenomena they measure using various quantitative tools.
This interdisciplinary project brings together oceanographers and anthropologists to examine the perception and measurement of human presence in the underwater world. They will be carrying out an experimental survey of the Marseilles coastline. At the crossroads of social sciences and environmental sciences, and through experimental audiovisual writing, this project aims to act on the societal representation of man's presence in the maritime environment.
Listening to the Marseilles coastline. The maritime metropolis of Marseille and its coastline are an excellent place to address and illustrate issues relating to the impact of human activities on the marine environment. The city backs onto a major port, is highly urbanised and boasts a high level of industrial, economic and tourist activity, with a wide range of pollution and interactions with the sea. Two sites in particular will be explored: the Calanques National Park and the Etang de Berre.
An interdisciplinary project. Winner of the CNRS 80/PRIME programme, the project brings together the Centre Norbert Elias (CNE), the Institut méditerranée d'Océanologie (MIO) and the Observatoire de l'Univers Institut Pythéas. The interdisciplinary approach is based on collaboration between a team of oceanographers with extensive knowledge of the impact of human activity on the marine environment in the Marseille area and a team of anthropologists with unique experience of how to represent interactions between humans and non-humans using audio-visual tools.
An initial question. PrésHuMer will start from the premise that the sea is not just a wild space, but a social space where humans interact with other living species. What can we perceive of the human presence under the sea? Behind this initial question, three main lines of thought form the basis of the project.
How can we measure the impact of human activity on underwater ecosystems?
How can we measure and/or imagine the perception of human activities by the inhabitants of underwater ecosystems?
How can these first two areas be made visible to the public using sensory devices, or more prosaically: how can we put people in the shoes of an underwater inhabitant?
Each of these areas will be the subject of separate developments and cross-references, enabling us, for example, to compare a scientific measure with a 'feeling'.
Restoring the sound and visual landscapes of the seabed. The exploratory project will be based above all on video and sound recordings that will enable us to film and capture sounds from the "bottom up", highlighting the impact of human activities on the surface or underwater and reconstructing the disturbances generated. The underwater environment will be considered as a social landscape where humans and marine communities interact, in a context where the underwater environment is still largely represented as an exotic world, alien to humans.
At a time when ecological issues are major concerns, the results of our project aim to make the invisible visible, the inaudible audible and to participate in these societal reflections. Our work could be used in the design of immersive sensory devices used in policies and actions to raise awareness in civil society.