2018-2019_Sound-Space-Imrovisatory photo by john Aitken Athens 2018 – Space, Sound And The Improvisatory

Methods, Technologies And Theories For Improvising With Natural And Built Environments (Athens, Greece)

Main programme | Oct 19-21, 2018
Parallel programme | Oct 20-21, 2018
Exhibition | Oct 19-28, 2018

The past fifty odd years have seen the creation, growth and proliferation of both technologically mediated and more direct creative approaches to using urban and natural sounds in art, broadly construed. Whether it be in situ sound art pieces, live performances that make use of natural soundscapes, the integration of spatially specific sounds into compositions and performance, the development of sound walks and related practices, or the creation of technologies that employ or process environmental sounds, such creative fusions of sound and space (a fundamental form of cross-modal art), invite us to reconsider both the relationships and dependencies between the two, and often suggest novel ways of relating them. How do such practices, particularly those making use of the power of digital technologies, suggest ways of improvising with space and time? How does problematizing our normal interactions with space and sound suggest new configurations of social interactions, of political relations?

This conference – including lectures, roundtables, demonstrations, performances and an exhibition taking place at the Onassis Stegi and out in the city – focused on the role of both urban and rural-based sound art and other performance practices (including music, dance and cross-art practices), with a focus on new digital technologies intended to use both sound and space in ways that enable users to improvise with and through our sonosphere and spatial environment. the aim of the conference was to also address questions concerning the cultural specificity of the use of digital tools in this area—how do issues of race, gender, class, nationality, sexual identity and so on affect the ways these issues are conceived of, and the ways technologies are developed and employed? Among others, Space, Sound And The Improvisatory featured demonstrations of a number of soundwalk related apps developed around the world, and documentation and discussion of the Tuned City Project in Ancient Messene and the Soundscapes/Landscapes initiative of the Onassis Stegi and Medea Electronique.

Curated By: Eric Lewis and Christos Carras (parallel programme curated by Angeliki Poulou)
In Collaboration With: IICSI
Powered By:  Cosmote
Supported By: E.Δ.Ω., Plato Café

Schedule

October 19-28

Exhibition: “Urban Sound Art / Sound Art in Public Spaces”
Free Entrance | Foyer +4 | 10:00-22:00

Friday, October 19

Upper Stage | All events will be held in English with no translation

18:15 | Introduction

18:30 | Film Screening: Soundscapes Landscapes’ Soundwalks – Rhizomes I,II,III, a documentary by Medea Electronique.

19:00 | Talks

  • Christos Carras: “Mediated Participation”
  • Rani Al Rajji: “Phonic Heimat”
  • Gascia Ouzounian: “Unplanning the Acoustic City: Sound Art in Post-War Beirut”

Saturday, October 20

10:00-12:00 | Talks

  • Carsten Seiffarth: “bonn hoeren” | Sound Installation Art in Bonn since 2010
  • Bill Psarras: “Metaphors for walking; “Tuning” space, senses and imagination”
  • Nikos Bubaris: “Audio Walks and Intermediality”
  • Teresa Connors: “Creative coding in an Ecological Performativity Practice”

12:30-14:00 | Talks

  • Angeliki Poulou: “Soundwalking and Archiving: Convergences and Tensions”
  • Budhaditya Chattopadhyay: “Mise-en-sonore: Improvising with Space in Sound Art”
  • Carsten Stabenow: “What’s New in the City?: Improvisation as Curatorial Practice”

21:00-22:00 | Lecture-performance

  • Úna Monaghan: “Spaces to Improvise in Irish Traditional Music”

22:15-22:30 | Performance

  • Teresa Connors & Ellen Waterman: “Aspects of Trees”

Sunday, October 21

16:30-18:00 | Talks

  • Rebecca Caines: “Improvised Remembering: Noise into Signal—a site-specific project in Wuhan, China”
  • John Drever: “The Role of Improvisation in Auraldiverse Soundwalking”
  • Ellen Waterman: “Klang-Opus á la fin de crépescule: Improvising Place and Space in the Cape Spear Project”

18:15-19:15 | Talks

  • Ludger Brümmer: “The influence of timbre on spatial perception”
  • George Samantas: “Site-specificity and the Cloud: improvising with the spatial, temporal, and digital perceptions of space”

19:30-20:00 | Round table / Wrap-up sessio

Parallel Program: Rewriting the Text of the City (soundwalks & talks)

All events will be held in English with no translation
Participation is free; soundwalks require a reservation via e-mail at the following address: [email protected]

Saturday, October 20

16:00-17:00 | “Astrorythmes”: A performative soundwalk by hd.kepler
Meeting point: Plato café (at 15:45), 61 Tripoleos st., Akadimia Platonos (opposite Plato’s Academy Park)

18:00-19:30 | Creative teams meeting
Plato Café | 61 Tripoleos st., Akadimia Platonos
Participants: Thodoris Dimitrakos / Jannis Kozatsas / Costas Passas (Krisi Scientific Review), hd. kepler art & research platform (Eleni Riga – Florent Frizet), Medea Electronique art collective (Manolis Manousakis-Tim Ward)

Sunday, October 21

9:30-10:30 | “Debating ATHENS”: A philosophical soundwalk by Thodoris Dimitrakos / Jannis Kozatsas / Costas Passas (Krisi Scientific Review)
Meeting Point: Association of Greek Archaeologists (at 9:15), 134 Ermou st.

11:00-12:00 | “Soundscapes Landscapes / Rhizome II / Gazi/Kerameikos/Metaxourgeio”: A soundwalk by Medea Electronique
Meeting Point: E.Δ.Ω. Creative Workshops Space, 18 Profitou Daniil st., Kerameikos, ATHENS
Instructions for downloading the app. Click here.

12.00-13.30 App designers round table
E.Δ.Ω. Creative Workshops Space, 18 Profitou Daniil st., Kerameikos, ATHENS
Participants: MU Collective (FR), MediaLab Prado (ES)
Moderated by: Gascia Ouzounian