There’s a scene in the documentary “Examined Life” where the philosopher Slavoj Zizek, pointing to a massive pile of trash, proclaims, “True ecologists love all this.” What he really means is that appreciating nature means appreciating the artificial, the catastrophic, and the chaotic with which the natural is so thoroughly suffused. Similarly, Sounds Natural explores all the fascinating ways the human and the natural worlds collide, with an emphasis on sound. How does hearing put us in touch with the world? What can sound teach us about the natural environment, urban blight, wealth disparity, and the warming of the Earth? Can we ever really listen to unadulterated wilderness, or are we just hearing the sound of technological innovation?

Developed through my teaching at SCI_Arc and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, this series offers a new investigation of the aesthetics and value of our artificial, destructive, post-natural world. The pilot episode published here, Silence in Russolo's The Art of Noise, gives a novel reading of the concept of silence in Russolo’s seminal manifesto.

Daniel Tovar is a sound artist and educator based in Los Angeles. His work, created primarily with field recordings, experimental Foley, and electronic synthesizers, explores the aesthetic value of the mundane, typically ignored sounds of everyday life. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Northwestern University and a BA from UC Berkeley. He currently teaches philosophy at SCI_Arc in Los Angeles, and has previously taught in the liberal arts program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been performed at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Coaxial, and Experimental Sound Studio.