Bats and Elephants is a sound art piece based on bat recordings from Avisoft and elephant recordings from Wild Sanctuary and the Elephant Listening Project. The piece plays with the process of transposition, which is necessary for humans to hear the full range of vocalizations possible with these two species. Bats take on the identity of other animal species as they are transposed down to human hearing. And as one stretches and plays with the sounds of elephants they too have their identity altered.
Bats and Elephants was created in 2011. It received the Harry Freedman Recording Award from the Canadian Music Centre and was featured in the performance Listening Like Bats at Gallery 345 in Toronto. Bats and Elephants was premiered at New Adventures in Sound Art’s SOUNDplay festival in November 2011 in Toronto in a performance with Benjamin Thigpen.