American Cypher: Stereo Helix for Sally Hemings — by Mendi and Keith Obadike — transforms the stairwell of the Elaine Langone Center at Bucknell University into a sound art chamber :: February 21 - April 30, 2012 :: Artists Talk and Reception: February 29; 7:00 pm :: Gallery Theatre, 3rd floor, ELC.

Artists Mendi and Keith Obadike describe the Stereo Helix for Sally Hemings, part of their American Cypher project, as a sonic drawing created for the lobby of the ELC. The primary sound source for this work is a small antique bell that belonged to Sally Hemings, given to her by Martha Jefferson (her half-sister and Thomas Jefferson’s wife). Continue reading

The Global Composition: Conference on Sound, Media and the Environment :: July 25-28, 2012 :: Darmstadt/Media Campus Dieburg (Hochschule Darmstadt), Frankfurt, Germany :: Call for Submissions — Deadline: March 12, 2012.

The sonic environment is an indicator for the quality of life: One crucial aspect, however, remains open and leads to a multitude of questions: Is this, what our hearing is exposed to, satisfying and enhancing our individual, social, functional, biological, economical, aesthetic and existential needs and endeavors? If not, which concepts exist to “orchestrate” everyday life’s cacophony? Which methods exist to successfully evaluate the quality of soundscapes? Continue reading

9.11.01_Scapes by Helen Thorington, 2002 (16:54)

Read Helen’s beautiful text (with links to more of my images).

Sound Credits: The sound score makes use of materials from Thorington’s 20-year collection of recorded materials, processed found sound, and sounds from the 9.11 event recorded by New Yorkers and archived on the web site SonicMemorial.org With thanks to SonicMemorial.org and those who have contributed to their collection.

If you’d like to contact Helen, her email is newradio at turbulence dot org.

Locustream Promenade @ City Sonic :: August 27 - September 11, 2011 :: Maison Folie, Margin’Halle, Brussels AND Festival Todaysart :: September 29 - October 1, 2011 :: Midi Train Station, Brussels.

Locustream Promenade is a sound art installation composed of sonic beams ( 10 parabolic dishes equipped with sound speakers and small computers). The parabolas are suspended in the public space in such a way that a visitor only hears the sound from the beam when he or she is directly underneath it. Each beam plays a different stream from the Locustream project. Continue reading

ISEA Istanbul presents Soundwwwalk Performance Panel: in­ves­ti­ga­tions to­wards an Acoustic Ecol­ogy of Net­works and the world wide web as in­ter­face and ma­te­r­ial for live per­for­mance — Chair Per­son: Bern­hard Gar­nic­nig; Pre­sen­ters: Ceci Moss, Jamie Allen, Peter Moos­gaard, Con­stant Dul­laart, Ju­lian Palacz, Joel Holm­berg, Will Schrimshaw :: Sep­tem­ber 17, 2011; 1:00 - 2:30 pm :: Sa­banci Cen­ter Room 7, Sa­banci Cen­ter, Lev­ent.

Com­puter net­works and cities both are so­cial spaces that have emerged as ma­te­r­ial spaces where lives are lead and work gets done. They are su­per­struc­tures for com­mu­ni­ca­tion, net­works of chan­nels where in­for­ma­tion and goods are trans­ferred. Both spaces have their par­tic­u­lar acoustic prop­er­ties and qual­i­ties, and while ex­ten­sive stud­ies of en­vi­ron­men­tal acoustics and the sound­scape of our en­vi­ron­ment have been emerg­ing in the last 40 years, net­work spaces are still con­sid­ered to be spaces with­out sound, acoustics or any sonic prop­er­ties. Continue reading

stillspotting nyc: Manhattan :: To a Great City by composer, Arvo Pärt and architect, Snøhetta :: For a Guggenheim Exhibition in lower Manhattan :: September 15–18 and 22–25, 2011 :: Five locations around Lower Manhattan starting from Battery Park

This is the second edition of stillspotting nyc, a two-year multidisciplinary project that takes the Guggenheim Museum’s programming out into the streets of New York City’s boroughs. Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and U.S. and Norway-based architecture firm Snøhetta create urban soundscapes around Lower Manhattan that explore the relationship between space and sound. To a Great City, the Manhattan edition ofstillspotting nyc, will be open to the public for two extended weekends on September 15–18 and 22–25, 2011. Continue reading

2011 World Listening Day :: JULY 18 :: The World Listening Project (WLP) and Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE) invite you to participate in the 2011 World Listening Day on Monday, July 18.

Here are several possible ways to participate:

Organize a soundwalk :: Organize a performance event that explores soundscape and how we can listen to our sonic environment :: Participate introspectively by simply paying attention to your soundscape :: Facilitate an educational event that relates to acoustic ecology, field recordings, or a similar topic ::

The level of participation in 2010 was amazing. We would like to see if we can double or even triple the number of participants worldwide this time. Continue reading

Bryan Pijanowski of Purdue University is hoping to start a new research discipline that he calls soundscape ecology; it will “use sound as a way to understand the ecological characteristics of a landscape,” as ScienceDaily reports.

Image: Photo courtesy of the Purdue College of Agriculture/Tom Campbell, via ScienceDaily

Sound, Pijanowski suggests, is a kind of ecological indicator: an audible symptom of other, sometimes literally invisible changes in a living network or ecosystem. Sound, for instance, can “be used to detect early changes in climate, weather patterns, the presence of pollution or other alterations to a landscape.” As Pijanowski explains one example of this approach, “The dawn and dusk choruses of birds are very characteristic of a location. If the intensity or patterns of these choruses change, there is likely something causing that change. Ecologists have ignored how sound that emanates from an area can help determine what’s happening to the ecosystem.” Continue reading

UrbanRemix is a collaborative and locative sound project developed by Jason Freeman, Carl DiSalvo, Michael Nitsche, and many of our students at Georgia Tech. Our goal in developing UrbanRemix was to design a platform and series of events that would enable participants to develop and express the acoustic identity of their communities, and enable participants to explore and experience the soundscapes of the city in a novel fashion.

The UrbanRemix platform consists of a mobile phone system and web interface for recording, browsing, and mixing audio. It allows users to document and explore the obvious, neglected, private or public, even secret sounds of the urban environment. Continue reading

Roma Soundscape Project :: curated by the Italian Soundscape Archive, AIPS (Archivio Italiano Paesaggi Sonori) :: coordinated by musicians/sound designers Francesco Giannico and Alessio Ballerini :: Begins March 21, 2011, at 5:00 p.m. :: at Forte Fanfulla€™ in via Fanfulla da Lodi nº5, Rome :: Registration open Monday - Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. until March 18 :: max 30 persons ::

Registration is now open for the workshop in Acoustic Ecology curated by the Italian Soundscape Archive, AIPS (Archivio Italiano Paesaggi Sonori) and coordinated by musicians/sound designers Francesco Giannico and Alessio Ballerini.

The aim of this workshop is to create a sonic representation of an urban soundscape, in this case the sound map of the Pigneto area in Rome, that will be also presented as an electroacoustic performance. Continue reading