Landscape of Hate

Vivek Venkatesh and Owen Chapman are the creators and curators of Landscape of Hate. Vivek is responsible for the live vocals and improvised noise electronics. Vivek and Owen also source the social media and pre-recorded public voices and nature-based soundscapes using the custom-made Plural mobile application which was designed by Vivek, Owen and Kathryn Urbaniak.

Vivek Venkatesh, Owen Chapman, Jason Wallin, Danji Buck-Moore (aka anabasine) and Leticia Trandafir (aka softcoresoft), and Annabelle Brault compose original music, deejay and improvise soundscape materials during Landscape of Hate performances.

David Hall creates the logos, branding and the visual representations to accompany the music of Landscape of Hate. David, Martin Lalonde and Jessie Beier improvise visuals based on the content of the public materials being used in each Landscape of Hate performance.

Credit: Marcus Skrede

The concept of the logo itself is rooted in a hashtag – the idea that thoughts and words must be ‘coded’ properly and the tie-in with social media and its impact and role as a delivery system for hate speech.There is also the idea present of a sideways ‘H’ (for hate) and a vertical bridge going across this H/hate…a landscape that transcends and also runs in tandem/intersects hate.

Lastly, there are thorns and barbed edges that represent that hate and ‘sting’ of prejudice and thoughts – this is a visual representation of hateful speech and rhetoric…and that with freedom of speech comes the ethical dilemma of defending free speech that one finds vile.

In this video, Vivek Venkatesh and Owen Chapman explain Landscape of Hate.

Events typically consist of a combination of panel discussions, debates, art expositions and performances. Landscape of Hate performances include a combination of original compositions of electronic music, audio samples, social media feeds, soundscapes and video projections. The lyrical materials are derived from data collected from the Internet, research interviews and other public sources. Each performance is unique. Landscape of Hate has been created as part of the Grimposium festival and conference series and the SOMEONE initiative. The project is funded by grants to Vivek Venkatesh’s multi-disciplinary research and practitioner team.

Team

Vivek Venkatesh, Owen Chapman, Annabelle Brault, Martin Lalonde, Jason Wallin, Leticia Trandafir, Jessie Beier, Danji Buck-Moore, David Hall