In his inaugural lecture as as professor in Auditory Culture at the University of Leiden, Marcel Cobussen, researcher, founder of the Journal of Sonic Studies and recently co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Sounding Art, exposed a fascinating idea around “a new sonic ecology”, addressing some issues on environmental sound thinking, listening processes, acoustemology, sound studies, artistic research, among other related topics.
“Towards a new sonic ecology” should be heard as a proposal to alternative ways of interaction between the environment, the human body and sound, a proposal to listen and react differently to our sonic milieu as well as a suggestion to reevaluate and perhaps transform this milieu. At the same time the title implies a critical reflection on the work already accomplished by many sound studies scholars before me. Without them this text would not have been possible, although I simultaneously diverge from their acoustemological paths.
A PDF with the whole lecture is available for download at Cobussen’s site.
Contents:
- Introduction – Explaining the Title
- Beyond Aesthetics
- Letting the Sonic Speak
- The Sonic City
- Atmospheres
- Auditory Culture and Artistic Research
- Towards a (New) Sonic Ecology at Leiden University
- Epilogue – Affective Politics
As a bonus, check out this nice lecture professor Cobussen gave a couple of years ago on the idea of artistic research, specially on music and sound.
