In Depths

Authors

  • George Hiraoka Cloke SOAS University of London
  • Anna Luy Tan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/2292-4736/40447

Keywords:

soundscapes, abyssal temporalities, blue humanities, entanglement

Abstract

Stretching hydrophone recordings of diverse marine life with the whirring noises of radars and excavation equipment, In Depths is an acoustic exploration of deep sea entanglement, through which subterranean soundscapes echo and resound from the abyssopelagic to the ocean surface. Drawing upon Stacy Alaimo’s notion of abyssal temporalities, In Depths uses time-stretching production techniques to contemplate subaquatic assemblages, consider the cumulative costs of deep sea mining, and value temporalities of slowness in resistance to the accelerating rhythms of resource extraction.

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The audio file can be accessed at https://on.soundcloud.com/DdX3rHSoBTp9ccv86

Author Biographies

George Hiraoka Cloke, SOAS University of London

George Hiraoka Cloke is a PhD student and artist based at SOAS, UK. His academic research focuses on representations of rivers in contemporary Southeast Asian ecocinema. As a musician and audio-visual artist, his creative practice integrates notions of ecological awareness, attentive listening and acoustic imagination. His music has been featured on BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, NTS and Spotify Editorial, and his audio-visual works have been exhibited at film festivals and art showcases worldwide.

Anna Luy Tan

Anna Luy Tan is a documentary filmmaker and writer from Chicago. As a student of both the sciences and the humanities with a lifelong passion for coral reef ecosystems, she has always been intensely invested in sharing her love of this unique living environment with the world and believes that it can be uniquely communicated through the medium of film.

References

Alaimo, S. (2014). Feminist science studies and ecocriticism: Aesthetics and entanglement in the deep sea. In G. Garrard (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of ecocriticism (pp. 188–204). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199742929.013.014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199742929.013.014

Alaimo, S. (2017). The Anthropocene at sea: Temporality, paradox, compression. In U. K. Heise, J. Christensen, & M. Niemann (Eds.), The Routledge companion to the environmental humanities (pp. 153–162). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315766355 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315766355

Beckman, D. (2013). Marine environmental biology and conservation. Jones & Bartlett.

Danovaro, R., Corinaldesi, C., Dell’Anno, A., & Snelgrove, P. V. R. (2017). The deep-sea under global change. Current Biology, 27(11), R461–R465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.046 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.046

Oliveros, P. (2005). Deep listening: A composer’s sound practice. iUniverse.

Thurber A. R., Sweetman A. K., Narayanaswamy B. E., Jones D. O. B., Ingles J. & Hansman R. L. (2014). Ecosystem function and services provided by the deep sea. Biogeosciences, 11, 3941–3963. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3941-2014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3941-2014

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Published

2025-02-24

How to Cite

Hiraoka Cloke, G., & Luy Tan, A. (2025). In Depths. UnderCurrents: Journal of Critical Environmental Studies, 22, 75–77. https://doi.org/10.25071/2292-4736/40447

Issue

Vol. 22 (2025): Below

Section

Creative

License

Copyright (c) 2025 George Hiraoka Cloke, Anna Luy Tan

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright over their work and license their work for publication in UnderCurrents under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means that the work is available for commercial and non-commercial use, reproduction, and adaptation provided that the original authors are credited and the original publication in this journal is cited, following standard academic practice.