2.1. The biomimicry design process

The official websiteFootnote ¹ of the Biomimicry Institute serves as a comprehensive repository intended to integrate biomimicry into cultural discourse and advance sustainable systems design by fostering the dissemination of ideas, designs and strategies derived from nature. As part of this mission, the Biomimicry Institute distils the biomimicry methodology into a six-stage cyclical process, illustrated in Figure 1 and summarised in the following text.

Figure 1.

The biomimicry design spiral taken from https://toolbox.biomimicry.org/methods/process/ (accessed 10 January 2023).

Initiating the biomimicry design process involves comprehensively examining the problem’s context, emphasising potential solutions and their anticipated impact and functionality. This initial stage prioritises the development of an understanding and awareness of the issues associated with the problem, eschewing specific design details or the determination of the final product. Following the contextualisation of the problem, a pivotal shift occurs in the biologising phase, which involves reframing the problem within a biological context. This reframing becomes crucial in seeking inspiration from natural strategies to address design-specific issues.

The subsequent discovery phase thoroughly explores and collects information about natural models operating within the same context as the envisioned solution. This investigative stage lays the foundation for abstracting biological strategies into design-centred approaches. This abstraction describes the underlying biological processes without relying on biologically specific terminology.

The emulation phase is an exploratory process to uncover natural blueprints that can inform the design. The culmination of the design process lies in the evaluation stage, involving rigorous assessment to gauge how the design concepts align with the predefined criteria and constraints of the design challenge. Iterative refinement and revisiting preceding steps may be necessary to yield a conceptually sound and practically viable solution.

The six stages of this process are deliberately broad and open to significant interpretation. Therefore, designing a specific methodology incorporating a more robust regulative biomimetic language that is transferable across musical domains is an area that needs further research.

2.2. Biomimicry, problem-solving and electroacoustic composition

The biomimicry process is principally a problem-solving methodology that uses clear cyclic steps to plan and realise stated design goals by mimicking biological functions. Consequently, the application of this procedure presupposes the existence of a problem requiring a solution. However, the outcomes of electroacoustic composition, as with all art forms, represent novel apprehensions (Scrivener Reference Scrivener2002) rather than solutions to known problems, and any such problems are usually ill-structured (Pearce and Wiggins Reference Pearce and Wiggins2002). Therefore, although the creative artefacts generated through compositional practice do not represent answers to known problems, problem-solving forms an integral component of the practice-based research paradigm. John Young (Reference Young and Dogantan-Dack2015) believes that composers identify and define compositional problems at different stages of the creative process. Young states that composers draw on their theoretical, speculative and empirical work from within the creative activity to overcome such problems and develop their criteria for ‘rightness’.

The prototypes developed in this pilot research provide choices for structuring and sequencing sound objects and events by mimicking aspects of predefined natural systems and processes at differing scales. In this way, it operates similarly to the compositional approach described by Manuella Blackburn (Reference Blackburn2011), who translates Denis Smalley’s (Reference Smalley1997) illustrative and analytic spectromorphological vernacular into practical compositional devices that guide the composer’s choices from the outset and attempt to distil and cultivate a set of creative potentialities from the infinite choices available at the commencement of a new composition.

2.2.1. Examples of biomimetics in electroacoustic composition

Most applications of biomimicry currently concentrate on the engineering and design domains, with a paucity of discussions that interrogate its musical potential. However, varied interpretations and applications of biomimicry exist in electroacoustic music.

While not embodying a problem-solving paradigm or formulating an abstracted and formalised compositional framework, Leah Barclay’s (Reference Barclay2014) biomimetic approach in creating Cyprus Trilogy encapsulates a creative process that engages with nature directly and profoundly. This technique diverges from traditional methods, which use natural resources to compose music that reflects specific environments. Instead, Barclay’s immersive experience within the Noosa Biosphere Reserve precipitates a transformative shift in perception and a heightened awareness, enabling her to assimilate an array of non-sonorous phenomena – such as the arrangement of foliage, the dynamic patterns of the wind and the intricate lines, textures and forms of tree bark – into her compositional language. This integrative process fosters a symbiotic interaction between the artist and the environment, positioning natural processes not merely as a muse but also as foundational elements of the compositional framework. Barclay’s biomimetic approach redefines the artist’s role, casting them as active participants in a reciprocal interchange with the environment. This dialogue informs and is embedded within the fabric of her compositional output, ensuring that naturally occurring patterns and structures are enmeshed into the musical narrative rather than superficially appended as thematic material. She uses biomimicry to adjust her sonic practice to the subtleties of the environment rather than creating works about the landscape, which echoes a core biomimetic principle of engaging with nature, not extracting and exploiting its resources.

A framework that employs Bernie Krause’s niche hypothesis (Krause Reference Krause1993, Reference Krause2012) as a biomimetic model exists in McConaghy (Reference McConaghy2021). This approach strategically structures and disseminates sounds to mirror the general acoustic and spatial partitioning observed in the natural environment. By embracing biomimicry, elements of soundscape composition, acoustic ecology and ecoacoustics directly inform the spectral and spatial transformation of sound images. This technique uses natural models to emphasise spatial experience through a deliberate and ecologically informed compositional approach. Figure 2 illustrates this biomimetic framework.

Figure 2.

The biomimetic composition model employed by McConaghy (Reference McConaghy2021), which uses Krause’s Niche Hypothesis to unite aspects of acousmatic music, soundscape studies and ecoacoustics.

The distinct ways artists engage with biomimicry is an area for future research. Barclay, for instance, sees herself as an active participant in a reciprocal interchange with the environment. In contrast, McConaghy positions himself as an observer, using the niche hypothesis to inform his compositions. While these artists employ biomimicry and engage directly with nature, their integration methods, roles and degree of structure and context-dependency in their approaches vary. These differences underscore the versatility of biomimicry as a composition tool, offering a new modality to engage with and represent nature in electroacoustic composition.

4.1. Genesis, inspiration and composition of the work

The predominant configuration of cdot is designed to mimic a somewhat narrative-driven path utilised by the scientific process, from an experimental process in a laboratory to a functional, physical resource deployed within arid parts of the Australian outback.

Within the piece, various biomimetic considerations are employed (the use of patterns, texture density and spatial morphology, among other things) to form the DNA via a kind of sonic textile across the piece. In a more literal sense, the first section of the piece uses transformations of a drop of water to express dimensions of scale and size, as well as place (a laboratory) to evoke memory, forming a backdrop of narration surrounding research into how nature can inform the use of nanotechnology. Within the second section, field recordings are employed, including a small stream found deep within a forest ravine in the Blue Mountains, augmenting the sonic pallet found within the piece.

The resultant form of the composition straddles two distinct parts. The first articulates the initial inspiration of the ACWA and the building of nanostructures from the bottom-up, molecule-by-molecule via physical and chemical methodology in a nanoscale range (1 nm to 100 nm) via controlled manipulation of self-assembly surrounding atoms and molecules. This initial section evokes laboratory experimentation on a ‘nano’ scale, as various structures and molecular configurations bind, unfurl and fuse. This represents a metaphorically playful process and transforms a single drop of water from a field recording into a micro to macro nanoscopic playground of shapes and colours, all of which (from a sonic perspective) portray the manifold processes that nanoscientists attempted in achieving their desired outcome. The sonic contour of the first section mimics numerous attempts at molecular and chemical cohesion, often resulting in indeterminate, largely unsuccessful explorations where the scientists strive to galvanise techniques, test hypotheses and employ specific methodologies, many of which fail (or, in the case of the composition, a series of short, ultimately unsuccessful terminations of phrases). However, cohesion and bonding of chemical reactions slowly begin to take shape as various organisational principles become more successful. Mapping this trajectory, the composition of sonic elements also becomes more stable (viewed through the lens of, inter alia, metaphor and symbolism) as increasingly unconstrained sonorous activities unfold. Scientifically, this results in the replication of patterns and multitudinous iterations of microparticles and the successful implementation of larger-scale processes, all of which result in the development of new nano-polymer textiles for use ‘in situ’ within otherwise arid and desolate environments across the globe. As a result of this accumulation of water from the atmosphere, new ecosystems begin to emerge and thrive, surrounding the deployment of this unique innovation. The final section of the composition resembles a coda as the processes and sonorous activities harken back to the initial laboratory setting.

4.2. Prototyping of biomimetic methodology within the musical domain

Seven sound examples are provided alongside this article, tethering a small selection of the multitudinous possibilities when appropriating elements of biomimetics within compositional craft. As such, while these examples speak to specific aspects of the cross-pollination of biomimetics and compositional technique, as discussed earlier within the paper, the article’s purpose is to instantiate the possible rhizome of outcomes that can be achieved. Further, these exemplars represent the minutia of potentiality across the artistic and scientific divide and should be viewed as such. We will also present various selections as they appear chronologically across the lifecycle of the work (the full piece is a 16:20, surround sound composition).

Sound Example 1: extract from the opening section. Symbolically, this example is situated entirely within a nanoscience laboratory setting and serves to articulate the inquisitive, experimental and methodological approach inspired by the Namib beetles’ ability to channel water along a central conduit running along its spine, ultimately serving to hydrate the animal. Compositionally, the technique of glissandi is highly apparent as the creature’s exoskeleton generates a downward flow of moisture (certain liberties were taken compositionally, most ostensibly via upward glissandi, but the primary proponent was designed to be one of an arched accumulation/dispersal of energy, irrespective of upward or downward motion). Additionally, the concept of modulation (vacillating pitched material) and the use of aqueous timbral sonorities assisted in portraying the exploration and experimentation of water within the laboratory context. Further, the individual sound particles combine to generate entire, rudimentary phrases built from these particles (transformations from drops of water), and the existent pitch/specific frequency is mainly arbitrary, primarily serving the creative resolve of the composer.

Sound Example 2: within this example, a more intrepid exploration of materials begins to take shape as scientists and researchers develop more confidence in pursuing a unified, cohesive polymer comprising iterative patterns. As such, the piece begins to exhibit a more directed, iterative and purposeful motion-growth process.

Sound Example 3: in this example, a more confident and directed approach materialises, with a clearly unified series of gestures and phrases articulated. At this point, the piece ceases to be as conservative, and the scientists and composer begin to increasingly explore a means by which to creatively galvanise material connections across multitudinous points, experimenting with materiality in both conventional and innovative ways.

Sound Example 4: this example sees the interpreter harkening back to some of the earlier, more rudimentary experimental gestures. Once again, the challenge to develop longer-form phrases (in the case of the composer) or develop functional molecular cohesion within the laboratory setting results in interrupted, incomplete and functionally unstable outcomes.

Sound Example 5: this example illustrates a far more codified, confident exploration of materiality as the scientist/composer begins to present exceedingly functional (albeit brief), highly directed control of materiality. The formation of iterative phrases, gestures and patterns begin to take definite shape, signifying that molecular bonding and chemical cohesion finally start to crystalise.

Sound Example 6: the sixth example represents a return to the laboratory setting across varied dimensions of experimentation, yet in a more directed, consistent and assertive way. The materials employed signify the development of a compositionally unified language and a refined scientific methodology.

Sound Example 7: the final example is almost entirely metaphorical, as industrial sounds are introduced by the composer to portray the transportation of materiality from the laboratory setting into an array of rural environments, ultimately serving to garner water from otherwise arid, desiccated atmospheres.

Biomimetics allowed the composer to explore the properties of natural systems that operate beyond the scale of direct human perception. The genetic, molecular, and nanoscale processes unfold according to imperceivable complex interactions. However, biomimetics provided a method to translate the behaviour of these nanoscopic particles into perceivable musical units. The complex scientific models in developing nanoscopic hydrophobic surfaces became vessels for sonic creativity while retaining essential behaviours such as growth, materiality, spatial perspective, duration and elasticity. In essence, biomimetics gives perceptual form to imperceptible behaviours by developing formal analogues in our experiential modalities.

The composition of cdot highlights biomimicry’s formative and indissoluble influence on musical thought and action. It uses non-sounding extrinsic phenomena as models to derive functional compositional strategies to develop, sculpt and shape musical elements on micro and macro timescales. Furthermore, it demonstrates that biomimicry is an efficient methodology for merging scientific and musical concepts into heuristic resources that guide and contour compositional decisions and offer potential solutions to the challenges that arise during creative practice.