‘Sonologia 2016 — Out of Phase‘ sound studies conference proceedings are now available for download in PDF.
“Sonologia 2016 – Out of Phase, an international sound studies conference, happened between the 22nd to the 25th of November 2016. The event was organised by NuSom — the Research Centre on Sonology (School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo) and hosted by the Sesc São Paulo — Centro de Pesquisa e Formação. The event gathered great interest, both locally and abroad, with more than 160 paper submissions. Overall, we selected 41 presentations from 14 different countries and coming from a wide array of backgrounds: anthropology; musicology and music composition; philosophy; literature; architecture; film and gender studies; sound art; music technology; acoustic ecology.
This type of diversity was encouraged through our CfP, whereas for the selection of the aformentioned works we adopted a curatorial process.The reasoning for this was twofold. Firstly, epistemological. We were looking for works that reflected a purposeful connection between what we deem the ‘particular’ (i.e, case studies, artwork, communities/places or tools) and the ‘general’ (i.e., theory, context, historical and political setting). Secondly, representativity was a big issue for us and this is outlined through the ‘out of phase’ metaphor. We were looking for discourses outside the mainstream ‘sound studies’ discussion, but also coming from a more diverse setting (country of origin and gender).
Overall, we felt that it was high time to promote work done both nationally and in Latin America: establishing fruitful dialogues with researchers coming from other parts of the world; while creating a platform for an interdisciplinary and critical conversation between the participants. Therefore, it wouldn’t be interesting to follow a more traditional model of selection based merely on a quantitative approach. The above strategic purview extended to the organization and selection of the 4 keynote speakers (in order of presentation) Rodolfo Caesar, Georgina Born, Alejandra Bronfmann and Cathy Lane (see pages 9–10) and the three panels (see pages 11–13).
It is portanto to state and contextualize that ‘sound studies’ is one of the many nodes that might constitute the field of research that is ‘sonology’ (locally called ‘sonologia’). We invite you to read through Rodolfo Caesar’s brief text (see pages 306-307) that offers a personal, but also historical outline of the area. Sonologia has been the main focus of work for NuSom since 2002, having developed several research and artistic projects. These endeavours revolve around experimental and electroacoustic music; room acoustics; computer music and also sound studies. We’ve also been busy in organizing other international events before Sonologia 2016. The final stage regarding the organization of Sonologia 2016 — Out of Phase is to publish the selected papers. This is done through these proceedings, but we’ve also selected a smaller number of authors to participate in a peer reviewed process for the Interference Audio Journal. This special edition, guest-edited by Fernando Iazzetta, Lílian Campesato and Rui Chaves will be published in November 2017. The papers selected will have only their title and abstract published in these proceedings (unless otherwise noted).
As a final note, we wish to thank: all of the participants and attendees for their presentations and critical insight; the keynote speakers for producing such stimulating talks and for sparing their precious time with us; and the incredible team of volunteers that made the event a much smoother endeavour. We want to specially thank the support given by Sesc São Paulo — Centro de Pesquisa e Formação and FAPESP (Fundação de Pesquisa e Amparo de São Paulo). It is our desire to continue this work in the coming years, so keep you ears open for other editions of Sonologia.”
Fernando Iazzetta
Lílian Campesato
Rui Chaves
