Ocean Wants: Translating Whales, featuring David Gruber

To know what other humans want, we can ask them. But pets aside, modern societies have lost the confidence and interest to communicate with non-humans. Could advanced machine learning allow for a proper interspecies conversation, even with creatures who spend most of their time away in the deep? In Ocean Wants #6: Translating Whales, speculative writer Ingo Nierman talks to David Gruber, marine biologist, and leader of CETI, a multidisciplinary project on understanding the acoustic communication of sperm whales, speaking from his home in New York City. Ocean Wants is a series of ten podcasts that playfully explores how nonhumans could like our planet to be. Conceived and hosted by Ingo Niermann, Ocean Wants was commissioned to celebrate TBA21–Academy’s tenth Anniversary. Commissioned and produced by TBA21–Academy Conceived, hosted, and edited by Ingo Niermann Music composed and arranged by Ville Haimala Intro read by Joan Jonas Credits read by Staci Bu Shea Sound edited by Robin Michel Produced by Ingo Niermann and María Montero Sierra

Om Podcasten

What can we ask the Ocean? In our sonic explorations, we dive deep into conversations about art, culture, the Ocean, equality, imagination and community, as well as music curated around the oceanic stories of our human and non-human collaborations. Created and curated by TBA21–Academy, a cultural organisation investigating environmental injustice through the lens of art, and its initiative Ocean Space, a new embassy for the Oceans situated in the Church of San Lorenzo, Venice.