“Sound Studies: Mapping the Field” will be the title of the second international ESSA conference. It will take place at the University of Copenhagen, June 27-29, 2014. Among the themes are: Case studies that testify to the recent changes within sound studies, theoretical reflections on sound studies’ futures, methodological papers testing the inter- or trans-disciplinary approaches of sound studies, historical papers that may help understand and contextualize the current developments, papers addressing how the sound industries take part in the recent developments, sound design futures, and presentations of contemporary artworks that incorporate sounds.
Proposals for panels: February 1
Individual papers: March 15
Keynote speakers are Georgina Born (Oxford University, UK), Norie Neumark (La Trobe University, Australia), Carolyn Birdsall (Amsterdam University, Holland)
Download the call for papers.
NEWNEWNEW: Call for panel papers
Panel no. 1: Methodologies of Sound Studies
M.Cobussen & H.Schulze
Sounding and hearing are not simple entities to be researched on. The specific corporeal as well as situative character and the historically and culturally relative nature of the sonic demand further developments of existing methods: how can we manage to integrate this rich corpus of everyday and in situ sounds into research? How can we avoid simply objectifying and reifying such processual and situative entities? What heuristics and methods are already in use and prove to result in insightful and inspiring research publications? Are there forgotten or overseen references in the history of epistemologies which we could take up and elaborate for sound studies? Are there research institutes or environments which are maybe overseen by current research and need to be reviewed? How can sound practices – be it in traditional sonification techniques or in daring and advanced forms of sounding art – themselves be used as experiential sites through which (sonic) events are investigated? This panel explores the diversity of approaches, methods and heuristics applicable to research into as well as through sound.
Thinking Sounds 