Event Review
Sound and the City - Interdisciplinary Perspectives
21 February 2008
This one-day event was planned as the one-off conference/seminar day of the City Seminar series. As agreed with CRASSH at the launch of the City Seminar in Michaelmas 2006, we wanted to create one event during the planned 2-year run of the series, which would expand on one particular topic by inviting a range of speakers in line with the City Seminars general interdisciplinary and urban environment focused concept. We chose the nexus of “Sound and the City”, as it seemed topical and sufficiently complex, offering good opportunities for discussion and appealing across various departments and research interests.
The conference sought to present theoretical, artistic and empirical accounts of the relationships between acoustics, sensory awareness and performance in the context of urban space, landscape and the built environment. These included musicology (on ecological theory and listening, by Heather Professor of Music, Oxford, Erik Clarke), media and sociological contributions (on mobile technology, iPod culture and urban arts education, by Michael Bull/Sussex and Graham Jeffery/UEL), cultural studies (on acoustics and territoriality in Japanese shopping centres, by Jacob Kreutzfeld/Copenhagen), and three creative reflections on or interventions into this theme. The artists/presenters spoke on and played examples of historical urban sound art (Juliana Hodkinson/Copenhagen) and contemporary sound projects in urban environments (London artist Robin Rimbaud/Scanner). Finally, joining us from snowed-under British Columbia via video-skype- conference (a first for us and her – special thanks to Glenn), Janet Cardiff gave a presentation of her work, with a particular focus on her celebrated “audiowalks”.
With an audience of around 30, plus speakers and organisers, we had a fairly full room, eclectic as well as illuminating discussions stemming from a variety of differing disciplines and backgrounds, forming previously unimagined connections and new contacts. Rounded off by a wine reception for all, and a dinner for speakers and organisers, the event also received positive feedback for its hospitality.
The conference sought to present theoretical, artistic and empirical accounts of the relationships between acoustics, sensory awareness and performance in the context of urban space, landscape and the built environment. These included musicology (on ecological theory and listening, by Heather Professor of Music, Oxford, Erik Clarke), media and sociological contributions (on mobile technology, iPod culture and urban arts education, by Michael Bull/Sussex and Graham Jeffery/UEL), cultural studies (on acoustics and territoriality in Japanese shopping centres, by Jacob Kreutzfeld/Copenhagen), and three creative reflections on or interventions into this theme. The artists/presenters spoke on and played examples of historical urban sound art (Juliana Hodkinson/Copenhagen) and contemporary sound projects in urban environments (London artist Robin Rimbaud/Scanner). Finally, joining us from snowed-under British Columbia via video-skype- conference (a first for us and her – special thanks to Glenn), Janet Cardiff gave a presentation of her work, with a particular focus on her celebrated “audiowalks”.
With an audience of around 30, plus speakers and organisers, we had a fairly full room, eclectic as well as illuminating discussions stemming from a variety of differing disciplines and backgrounds, forming previously unimagined connections and new contacts. Rounded off by a wine reception for all, and a dinner for speakers and organisers, the event also received positive feedback for its hospitality.
Uta Staiger, King's College
