Walls of Sound: The Ecology of the Borderlands

The militarization of borders across the world has a very real influence on the natural environment. In the fragile desert ecosystem, this influence is detrimental. Not at all devoid of life, the Sonoran Desert is a beautiful natural environment that is teeming with insects, reptiles, mammals, and plants. Because of our inability to solve international socioeconomic issues in a meaningful and sustainable way, we separate animals from their families, from their water sources, their migration patterns, and we expose them to pollution and other foreign human elements.

“Walls of Sound: the Ecology of the Borderlands” uses the organ as a medium for exploring the impact of humans on the natural environment of the Sonoran Desert at the U.S.-Mexico border. Initially conceived by Kimberly Marshall and Alexander Meszler, this program is collaborative and interdisciplinary at its heart. The program was inspired by the work of Glenn Weyant who has been addressing the changing soundscape of the Southern Arizona borderlands due to militarization since 2006. Continually evolving, the program includes a short documentary by Samantha Lloyd, the video art of Erik Miller, musical works composed specifically for this program by Garth Paine and Huw Morgan. It is narrated and includes the poetry of poet laureate of the State of Arizona, Alberto Rios as well as scientific research by Michael Schoon, Associate Professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University.