Sonic Technoecology: Voice and Non-anthropocentric Survival in The Algae Opera

Prompted largely by human-induced ecocrises, interspecies performance, which examines the enmeshment of human existence and responsibility with other species and the more-than-human world, is a proliferating trend in the performing arts and in their study. While there have been notable sound-based performances working with interspecies themes in recent years, there is a paucity of detailed, let alone feminist, research on these projects. This article addresses this by examining the potentialities of sound in interspecies performance, as exemplified by the musical and multisensory project, The Algae Opera, and by introducing the concept of sonic technoecology into studies of performance and feminist non-anthropocentric theories. Reconfiguring the quintessentially Eurocentric sphere of Western opera, The Algae Opera by Michael Burton and Michiko Nitta presents possibilities of multispecies survival and points to ontological and ethical stances beyond the human through an experimental, ecologically sustainable practice of food production. This practice interrelates an opera singer with purpose-built biotechnology and cultures of algae. With my concept of sonic technoecology, I demonstrate how this project uses the technicity and connective, ecological capacities of the singing voice and musical composition to enact horizontal relationality across traditionally separated terms, from human and other-than-human to corporeal and technical.