Audible Ecosystemics as Artefactual Assemblages: Thoughts on Making and Knowing Prompted by Practical Investigation of Di Scipio's Work

By exploring Di Scipio's Audible Ecosystemics through the optic of a succession of practical student projects we see that the processes and forces involved in the making can in turn be viewed as an ecosystem. Some key aspects of this revolve around the ways in which technical and social matters interweave in practice—such as negotiating transitions between coding and practising—and how musical identities and design choices can interact. I draw from this the thought that the dynamics of the negotiation between the technical and social are a key aspect of electronic musical craft, but that this topic remains sparsely accounted for in our discourse. I suggest that devising better means of articulating about such negotiations—and about practice more generally—is a way in which practice-led research in this area can contribute usefully to the wider endeavour of musical research.