David Gruber (Project CETI [Cetacean Translation Initiative]), “Deep Whale Listening” (Franke Program in Science and the Humanities)

This talk will discuss the transdisciplinary research of Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) and its mission to listen to and translate the communication of sperm whales. It will cover other efforts to better understand the perception of marine life, as well as artistic collaborations that have stemmed from the scientific discourse and themes.

 

Bio:  David Gruber is the Founder & President of Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), a nonprofit organization and interdisciplinary scientific and conservation initiative that is applying advanced machine learning and state-of-the-art robotics to translate the communication of sperm whales. CETI has made pioneering scientific discoveries including the sperm whale phonetic alphabet. David is Distinguished Professor of Biology at the City University of New York and National Geographic Explorer. His interdisciplinary research bridges multiple scientific disciplines and his inventions include technology to perceive the underwater world from the perspective of marine animals. He has been in longstanding discourse with Joan Jonas and they collaborated on To Touch Sound (with Emily Coates) at MoMA (2024) and Moving off the Land II at Ocean Space, Chiesa di San Lorenzo, Venice (2019). David also co-curated Who Speaks for the Oceans? at the Mishkin Gallery (2022) and Tarble Arts Center (2023).

 

Sponsored by The Franke Program in Science and the Humanities, Performance Studies Working Group, and Program in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at Yale.