Listening to Whales

As producer of Pioneer Works' Scientific Controversies series since 2019, I designed and produced this evening — the 32nd in the series — taking Founding Director of Sciences Janna Levin's premise and building the full program around it, including the partnerships, the funder alignment with the Sloan and Simons Foundations, and the Second Sundays activation that extended the science further into the community.

The mainstage event Listening to Whales was an immersive exploration into whale communication, drawing nearly 600 attendees, featuring a talk with marine biologist Dr. David Gruber and comparative anatomist Dr. Joy Reidenberg, hosted by Janna Levin.

Some programs come together through persistence as much as planning. Getting Dr. David Gruber, the marine biologist leading Project CETI's effort to decode sperm whale communication, to the stage took years of relationship-building. When timing aligned in summer 2025, we built an evening around it, complete with whale song woven into the DJ sets and whale specimens displayed across the stage and vast main hall space.

Drone footage from Ocean Alliance and an OceanX Portal installation alongside the talk took attendees into the science, ethics, and awe of whale communication. Even the title was a collaboration: when we proposed "Talking to Whales," Gruber gently pushed back, suggesting "Listening to Whales" — the whales, he noted, don't need any more talking to by humans.

As part of the lead-up, Prelude of Listening to Whales filled Pioneer Works' Science Studios during Second Sundays. A meditative soundscape built around the landmark 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale played on speakers while whale imagery and footage from Ocean Alliance was projected — a sensory bridge to the conversation ahead. During the main event, the album was also on display as a listening station on a record player in the PW Store.