Sound Research

"This article seeks to explore the manifold ways in which carceral violence and acoustics intermingle, as manifested in the case of the military prison of Saydnaya-an infamous, state-run torture jail in Syria. As revealed by survivors' ear-testimonies and by the recent digital reconstruction of the prison's interior (available on the Amnesty International website), sound seems integral to the dynamics of power at play in the Syrian prison. A great part of the violence committed there is acoustic, one that is meticulously based on defining properties of the aural experience. "

"In the arid hills outside Damascus, Syria, there is a military prison called Saydnaya, a low-slung concrete building where prisoners are forbidden to make any noise. Because of Saydnaya's eerie quiet-and because the prison is kept dark and prisoners are frequently blindfolded-inmates develop a particularly keen sense of sound."

"Sound, as a modality of emotion, is central to the everyday constitution of space. For an increasing population in Canada, however, incarceration forms the basis of everyday life. This paper explores the connections between sound and emotion as they play out in the under-researched context of prisons. I use a participant's term, "feeling the range," to identify the atmospheric, haptic, and emotive potential of sound as a vital tool of spatial knowledge. "

"During the Covid-19 pandemic, comparisons have often been drawn between lockdown measures and prison, yet people with lived experience of prison have countered that such domestic confinement bears little resemblance to the pains of imprisonment. These different viewpoints suggest that the general public has little understanding of what happens behind prison walls. This blogpost considers how prisoner writing can describe prison to the non-prisoner reader (i.e. a reader who does not have lived experience of prison), bearing witness to the carceral experience. Drawing on examples of short stories about prison, written by current or former prisoners, I examine how these writers recreate sensory aspects of prison in their writing. Carceral texts commonly recount the sights, sounds, touches, tastes and smells of prison; but, in my experience of reading and analysing prisoner writing, it is the depiction of prison sound that is most powerful and affecting. In this blogpost, I examine how prisoner-writers translate the speech and sounds of prison into written form, to convey the carceral experience to those outside prison walls."

"A modern-day zen garden opened this past Friday, October 1st, at the Fort York Historic Site in Toronto, Canada. Contemporary artist Krista Kim brings her vision of wellness to the world via CONTINUUM: a meditative 20-minute generated animation aimed at improving mental health through active self-care participation. "

"Listen to the sounds of deterioration and decay as the sound is transformed into something else for this episode. Hear Brooklyn composer William Basinski and a portion of his mammoth work, "Disintegration Loops" - a project based on very old tape loops from the 1980's. The tape itself was disintegrating, and tape gunk would come off on the playback head, but Basinski allowed the loops to play continuously while he recorded them digitally, capturing the process of the music's demise. "

Immersive digital art works offering listeners an intimate, visceral and poetic glimpse of their own mortality. Afterlife is a series of four 20-minute (approx.) immersive digital artworks that transport the listener to places which paradoxically none of us will ever know: connecting us with stories of the body's decomposition after death."

The Expressive Body: Memory, Devotion, Desire (1400-1750), an exhibition at the Norton Simon Museum Contemplates sacred and secular bodies in painting and sculpture, and how our bodies as viewers interact with them, the show is a perfectly timed refresher on the importance of physicality in art.

"Asked to curate a night of insect music for Pestival at London's Southbank Centre, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson thinks he may just have found a 15th-century iPod"

"Each structure uniquely incorporates the circulation of water from the James River, which flows across the entire state of Virginia, reminding us to consider our bodies as mediums for environmental pollutants. "

"Each structure uniquely incorporates the circulation of water from the James River, which flows across the entire state of Virginia, reminding us to consider our bodies as mediums for environmental pollutants. "

This interactive multimedia project historically and culturally situates hearing and listening in eighteenth-century Paris by re-imagining how we might present sonic artifacts to better understand auditioning subjects within pre-recording technology soundscapes. Through multiple pathways and thematic tags, the project simulates how Parisians would have interacted with the web of sonic knowledge that existed in eighteenth-century Paris. The project culls resources from across academic digital initiatives as well as popular, public platforms. This blend of sources puts into question stereotypical distinctions made between academic and public, scholarly and popular. Enjoy exploring Organs of the Soul through a choose-your-own-adventure format. And consider what constitutes your own unique auditory subjectivity.

Explore these beautiful (and at times perplexing) musical works of art, with pictures from Theresa Sauer's stunning Notations21 book."

"An online exhibition for offline participation - 14 relational sound art works that offer a means to explore and interrogate our cities of sound"

"Recomposing the soundscape of the intensive care unit"

"In his discussion of the association between sound and visuals, Michel Chion, a prominent film theorist and the author of Film, A Sound Art claims there are three categories of sound that can be coupled, blended, and traversed in a multitude of different ways as opposed to the simplistic categories of only "offscreen" and "onscreen" audio. "

What are the considerations for acoustics in prisons?

'Profile,' a single-channel self-portrait by Candice Breitz (born 1972, Johannesburg, South Africa) reflects on Breitz's nomination as one of two artists chosen for the South African Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale. 'Profile' fuses self-portraiture with brand promotion, biography with racial profiling, artist statement with political campaign. It interrogates the workings of representation, addressing the complex relationship between the identity of an artist and the specificity of their practice. Rather than appearing before the camera herself, Breitz collaborates with ten prominent South African artists who could equally have been selected to represent the country

PDF of a booklet on radical activist listening practices. there exists a counter-discourse of improvised listening linked to collective practice.