Canine Cacophony is a sound composition produced based on the activity and movements of the dogs in the Washington Square Park Dog Run. The project will seek to magnify the interactions between dogs and people in public environments as expressed through aural information. Through observing and researching the shared space of a dog run, along with investigations into the lifestyles of the people who utilize the dog run, Canine Cacophony will scontribute to the cultural examination of contemporary urban ecology.

The initial element defining the dog park in Canine Cacophony would obviously be the sound, but what will ultimately connect the sounds to the dogs is the activity in the run. Movement is a crucial concept to this project since it is the sole determinant in translating and producing aural information here. The certain movements, which we found so interesting and ultimately wanted to amplify in some abstract form, exists in the organic, natural quality of animals running freely mixed with the curiously social gestures of domesticed dogs. On one hand, we enjoy the primitive attributes of the dogs contrasted in the city, but on the other hand, we still can’t help but anthropomorphize these creatures. The sounds are meant to satisfy these two, in some ways conflicting, aspirations. By aurally animating in real time the way the dogs move and interact with one another in the dog run, one is able to abstract their own interpretation of this very special and unique space.