Acoustic ecology as a foundation for artistic creation:

sound installation, space, and memory

Abstract

This article reports on an artistic investigation that applies concepts from James J. Gibson and Eleanor Gibson’s Ecological Psychology to the development of protocols for creating interactive sound and audiovisual installations centered on active audience participation. The central hypothesis is supported by the concept of affordance: if perceiving is acting, it is possible to create works that do not offer ready-made sound or visual objects, but rather possibilities for action that emerge from the relationship between the individual and the environment. We present two versions of an interactive audiovisual installation realized in 2025: the first, set up at Parque Verde in Fazenda Rio Grande, and the second, adapted for an exhibition hall. In both versions, the installation established a dialectic between the sounds and images of the BR-116 highway—a symbol of the municipality's urban fragmentation—and the city's historical and affective memories. The audience's gestural participation was a requirement for the transformation of this soundscape and landscape, making the spectator an active agent of the work. The study articulates theoretical frameworks of interactivity in art, performativity, and ecological psychology, proposing the "composition of affordances" as an alternative to musical creation centered on predetermined sound objects.