Mid November 2023 I had the pleasure of being invited for a keynote presentation at the kick-off of the Applied and Experimental Sound Research Lab (AESR) in Vienna (Austria). In this presentation I combine insights from my book Engaging With Everyday Sounds with my advisory work for (non)governmental organizations on the sound design of public spaces, and some ideas about the extended role artistic research might play in contemporary society.
Reworked text of a presentation I gave in Torino during Forum Acusticum 2023: “The Role of Sound Art in Soundscape Design.”
Yesterday, September 17 2023, finally, the official launch of my soundwalk “Leiden (Un)Heard,” developed together with Sharon Stewart, Michiel Huijsman, and Caeso. “Leiden (Un)Heard” contains underwater sounds, sounds of electromagnetic fields, sounds as heard by mice, sounds from the past, sounds from underground, and many more.
More info can be found here: https://soundtrackcity.nl/leiden-unheard/ (in English) or https://soundtrackcity.nl/ongehoord-leiden/ (in Dutch)
After reports on the Hofplein square, the new ecological city park Hofbogen, and the Rijnhaven area, find here the fourth report I have composed for the City of Rotterdam. It consists of several recommendations to protect and/or improve the sonic quality of this part of the city. Besides the already beautiful sonic atmosphere of the Brienenoord Parc, the report concentrates on sonic ecologies in and around the future residential area of Feijenoord City.
The report (in Dutch) – which also contains audio files – can be found here
Today, I found this book on my doormat: New Paradigms for Music Research: Art, Society and Technology, edited by Adolf Murillo, Ines Monreal, Jesus Tejada and David Carabias and issued by the University of Valencia (Spain). Contributors are participants to the first International Conference on the Intersection of Art, Society and Technology in Musical Innovation in 2021, organized by the same university.
My contribution consists of a text on soundwalking, mostly concentrating on my development of a soundwalk in Leiden, the Netherlands in 2021. My claim is that this art form takes in fact place between art and non-art and as such has both artistic and societal significance.
Last week I’ve recorded a podcast together with Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman and Andrew Mitchell in London based on my latest book Engaging With Everyday Sounds. Will be broadcast soon.
See the ad for this position (0.2 fte) at Leiden U here. You should apply before March 1!!!!
On 27 and 28 February 2023, the first Sound Arguments session will take place in Studio Loos in The Hague. Sound Arguments is an initiative of Jonathan Impett, Magno Caliman (both working at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent) and myself.
Sound Arguments will bring together sound artists, sound studies scholars, organizers, PhD students working on/in/through sound, etc. Next to lectures and presenting own work, there’s room for workshops.
Our first guest will be the marvelous Argentinian composer-musician Cecilia Arditto; she will give a lecture on notation, perform her cycle Musique concrete and organize a workshop on composing with everyday (sounding) objects. See also here.
For more information on Sound Arguments, please click here
Aviation noise, especially in a densely populated country like The Netherlands, has become a serious problem for many citizens over the past 5 decades or so. On 21 February 2021, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment has published a new report in which it says that more and more people are suffering from aviation noise, even though there’s no significant increase of the amount of dBs. The Institute concludes that their current research methodology might fall short as they cannot take into account “non-acoustic factors.” Well, besides those important non-acoustic factors, other acoustic factors besides dBs can also be relevant to take into account. See my reactions on the report in the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad and the news site of RTL Nieuws.
Thinking Sounds 