Lisa Schonberg is a composer, percussionist, and ecological sound artist. Informed by her background in ecology, Schonberg composes music with a focus on cryptic sounds of insects and other underappreciated beyond-humans. She documents soundscapes, insects, and habitat through music composition, writing, and multimedia collaboration, engaging the public in listening to prompt heightened consideration of these soundworlds. Currently she is developing music composition systems that interact with insect sound in real time. Her recent work includes research on ant bioacoustics with entomologists in the Brazilian Amazon, cryptic sound studies with landscape architects in Oregon, detection of cellular frequencies in ant habitats in NY, and music composition concerning Pacific Northwest old-growth forests, Hawaiian endangered bees, fungi, and plastics. Schonberg's compositions are performed by Secret Drum Band, UAU, Antenna, & solo.
Schonberg earned her Masters in Environmental Studies at the Evergreen State College with a focus on ant biodiversity in the Neotropics, and is currently a PhD candidate in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. She is the author of The DIY Guide to Drums, Text Scores for Getting to Know the Invertebrates, and The Hylaeus Project: A Documentation of the Endangered Native Bees of Hawaii. She was a regular contributor to Tom Tom Magazine and She Shreds magazine. Her past bands include Explode into Colors, STLS and Kickball, and she has performed with Dubais, Thao With The Get Down Stay Down, Erase Errata, The Need, Taka Yamamoto, Mirah, Tara Jane Oneil, Tuneyards, Cloud Eye Control, Peter Broderick/Gabriel Saloman, and others. Schonberg has received support from the New York State Council for the Arts, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, The Sanctuary for Independent Media, Wave Farm, Arc’teryx, the Oregon Arts Commission, The Oregon Community Foundation, Calligram, and The Andy Warhol Foundation For The Visual Arts. She has been an artist in resident at Pioneerworks, Wave Farm, the Banff Centre, Labverde, HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, Shotpouch Cabin, Dinacon/Digital Naturalism Labs (Panama), A-Z West (Joshua Tree, CA), and Signal Fire. She has performed at the Adolfo Ducke Reserve (BR), The American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Museum, the Pompidou, High Desert Test Sites, the Time-Based Arts Festival (Portland), and has presented lectures in the US, Europe and Brazil.
MT RYAN - photo by Micki Poklar
ANTS for Bernie - audio by Lisa, video by Andy + Kitty Quitmeyer, concept by digital naturalism labs + lisa