Recording active and abandoned industrial sites and partially burned forests in California

West Coast ecological and industrial spaces meet in this project, which is set in the tunnels at Donner Pass, California, a Pacific Union trainyard in Roseville, California, and forests in Oregon that are recent victims of wildfires. The Witness is performed with Christi Denton and SAMPle (PSU’s laptop ensemble), along with students at rural locations near Portland, combining recordings from an area of burned forest with scores inspired by Oliveros. These recordings are incorporated with others into three short films about abandoned & active industrial sites in Northern California, to help imagine and rebuild ecology in the aftermath of the industrial age.