Ears In Space x REVEIL, 2020 - 2025
Ears In Space is the term I use for collaborative projects with artist Linda Gale Aubry integrating ecological sound, landscape practices, and citizen science for the creation of art and community.
Since 2020, Ears In Space have been participating in REVEIL, an annual festival of streaming sound hosted by SoundCamp in London, every first Saturday of May, on World Dawn Chorus Day.
On three occasions (2020, 2021, & 2025), Ears In Space led programs listening into the dusk world of bats, with talks by experts and broadcasts of echolocation calls from several countries.
2025: Interview with Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Center
In May 2025, I had the great pleasure to interview Alona Prylutska, chiropterologist and director of the Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Center (UBRC) in Kharkiv, Ukraine. She told us about some of Ukraine’s 26 bat species, and about the organization’s important work, rescuing bats from all over the country in spite of the invasion. We then listened to some bats in their care, courtesy of Alona’s colleague Andriy holding the microphone close to the chattering, squeaking patients. The talk concluded with Alona live-streaming sounds from her bat detector as bats foraged over a nearby river.
The streams originated from 4 locations spread over 3 time zones: Alona in western Ukraine, with Andriy at the UBRC HQ in Kharkiv in the east; myself in Massachusetts, on the east coast of the USA; and the whole event deftly managed by Mort Drew of SoundCamp from their location in London, UK.
2021: On location with bat expert Erin Ruggiano at MassAudubon Arcadia Wildlife Preserve
UBRC logo
In 2020, early in the pandemic, I had the great pleasure of moderating an online discussion about the sound world of bats, and how listening to bats can help us better understand and protect them. On 1 May 2021, Erin Ruggiano and I finally met in person at the Massachusetts Audubon Arcadia Wildlife Preserve to hunt for, and discuss, bat sounds. Our bat detectors gave REVEIL’s global audience an audible glimpse of the Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus), the Eastern Red (Lasiurus borealis), and the endangered Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus), which I mixed together to create a live sound piece at the end of our discussion.
2020: UK/US panel discussion on bats
Reveil trailers
In 2020, after the pandemic forced me to cancel a trip to London for my first Reveil, I moderated an online discussion hosted by SoundCamp about the sound world of bats, and how listening to bats can help us better understand and protect them. Joining me were Massachusetts-based biologist and bat expert Erin Ruggiano; London-based environment & bat expert Iain Boulton; and sound artist and environmental scientist Jo Kennedy, based in North Yorkshire, along with the entire SoundCamp team.
These trailers were created by the Ears In Space marketing team (aka orangecookie, aka Linda Gale Aubry of Visual Confections Studio) and were used to promote our participation in Reveil for 2024 and 2025. The Ears In Space mascot, Fielder Blank, was recruited for his natural charm in front of the camera.