Deep listening the animal other : trash-foraging gulls at Ämmässuo waste treatment centre

Abstract

For centuries, seeing has dominated other senses in Western thought. To a certain extent, this has also been the case in animal philosophy. In this article, animal otherness is examined through listening. We explore otherness in animals that share urban environments and utilise material surplus discarded by humans: gulls. Our fieldwork takes place at Ämmässuo, a waste treatment centre located in Espoo, Southern Finland. The method of listening is Deep Listening, a composer’s sound practice developed by American composer Pauline Oliveros. In Deep Listening, listeners are connected with their environment and all its inhabitants through listening. What is heard is always changed by listening, and in turn, listening changes the listener. The article utilises the concept of sonosphere also created by Oliveros, as well as the concept of atmosphere as it has been described by Andrew Whitehouse. It proposes a method of listening-with gulls which acknowledges the diverse differences and similarities between species while also taking into account the agencies of infrastructures and machines affecting both human and nonhuman lives.