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We are thrilled to launch the website for the ERC-funded project Sonorous Cities: Towards a Sonic Urbanism (SONCITIES) at www.soncities.org
Please visit us there and sign up to our newsletter and social media accounts to receive news, project updates, and calls for participation!
‘Sailortown: Sense of Place’ by Jake Johnson
This experiment at the intersection of urbanism and experimental music takes inspiration from graphic scores as dynamic forms that could offer new ways of notating the relationship between design ideas, built form, and social life: in other words, between scoring and performing urban space.
Throughout 2019 we hosted four workshops in very different cities with common challenges: London and Paris, two global cities needing to create flexible space to accommodate rapid economic and socio-cultural change; and Belfast and Beirut, cities marked by conflict needing to find common spaces across sectarian divides. The workshops invited architects and composers to explore a site, share their observations, and create scores that challenge the static nature of the architectural blueprint.
The site includes:
SCORES by project participants exploring notations for urban and architectural design.
ESSAYS reflecting on the relationships of scoring, design, infrastructuring, and urban form.
RESOURCES including the workshop handbook.
ACTIONS documenting workshops and other events.
The project was conceived and led jointly by Gascia Ouzounian (University of Oxford / Recomposing the City) and John Bingham-Hall (Theatrum Mundi) with research and coordination support from Fani Kostourou (Theatrum Mundi) and Conor McCafferty (Queen's University Belfast). It is funded by The Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities and Theatrum Mundi, and was supported in kind by LCC’s CRiSAP, Belfast Harboour Commissioners, and Plateau Urbain.
Scoring the City follows previous collaborations between Theatrum Mundi and Recomposing the City: the Acoustic Cities Study Day, the Beirut-London exchange workshop Urban Soundscape and the Politics of Memory, and a subsequent edition published by Optophono, Acoustic Cities: London & Beirut.
Contributors: Richard Dougherty, Una Lee, Sharon Phelan, Mhamad Safa, Jonathan Packham, Jake Johnson, Fani Kostourou, Diogo Alvim, Aura Satz, Rennie Tang & Lisa Sandlos, Matilde Meireles, David Buck & Eleni-Ira Panourgia, Carola Moujan.
The Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford is is looking to appoint three postdoctoral researchers for 36 months from March 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter to work on the ERC Consolidator Grant Sonorous Cities: Towards a Sonic Urbanism (SONCITIES). Apply here https://bit.ly/3lrTOj9
Recomposing the City is delighted to announce that Gascia Ouzounian, co-director of Recomposing the City, Associate Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, and Fellow in Music at Lady Margaret Hall, has been awarded a €2 million grant from the European Research Council for the project ‘Sonorous Cities: Towards a Sonic Urbanism.’ The project extends Ouzounian’s work with architects and urban designers on issues of urban sound, in particular through her research group Recomposing the City and the organisation Theatrum Mundi. Ouzounian writes:
“Architecture and urban design, disciplines heavily rooted in visual epistemologies, have long neglected sound, or else treated it in limited ways: as a physical quantity that can be modelled and controlled; or else as noise, something to be reduced or eliminated. The neglect of sound on the part of the built environment professions has been damaging for cities, which suffer from poor acoustic design. As cities come under increasing scrutiny in a rapidly urbanising world, it is time to turn attention to one of the most pervasive - yet most neglected - aspects of urban life: how cities sound; how the experience of urban soundscapes is differentiated along social and cultural lines; and how to harness the creative potential of sound to build healthier, more inclusive, more sustainable cities.
SONCITIES will bring together sound theorists, urban sociologists, architects, urban designers and sound artists to develop the framework of sonic urbanism: a new acoustic paradigm for cities. We will conduct unprecedented ethnographic research with urban communities, aiming to discover how people experience and shape soundscapes in their everyday lives. On this basis we generate new sonic modes of urban analysis in dialogue with built environment practitioners internationally. Finally, we will develop new sonic modes of urban design in the context of Design Weeks, public exhibitions, and creative sonic interventions in cities. Through SONCITIES, sound will be placed at the forefront of creative practice in architecture and urban design, and sonic urbanism will emerge as an innovative theoretical paradigm that fundamentally transforms how cities are understood, experienced, and designed.”
Ouzounian is a sound theorist and practitioner who specialises in experimental music and sound art, music technology studies, and sound studies. In addition to her articles in leading journals of musicology, visual arts, architecture and philosophy, she is the author of Stereophonica: Sound and Space in Science, Technology and the Arts (forthcoming 2020, The MIT Press). This monograph examines concepts and technologies of acoustic and auditory space from the nineteenth century to the present day, through case studies that include stereo listening in the 19th century, acoustic defense during WWI, spectacular demonstrations of stereophony in the 1930s, the development of ‘spatial music’ in the mid-20th century, and the advent of noise mapping and sound mapping.
Ouzounian says, “I wish to thank my colleagues in the Faculty of Music and Lady Margaret Hall for creating a genuinely stimulating research culture in which experimental and interdisciplinary work can thrive. Warm thanks go in particular to Professor Georgina Born, Professor Elizabeth Eva Leach, Professor Suzanne Aspden, Thea Vidnes, and Dr John Bingham-Hall for their support with my application; to TORCH Oxford for a seed grant; and to all my colleagues for supporting this project. I’m enormously grateful to Professor Howayda Al-Harithy (American University of Beirut), Professor Les Back (Goldsmiths College), Dr John Bingham-Hall (Theatrum Mundi), Dr Sarah Lappin (Queen’s University Belfast), and Professor Nick Tyler (UCL) for coming on board as collaborators—and to all the members of the Advisory Board for their support. I’m delighted to embark on new collaborations with architects, urban designers, and urban sociologists in cities around the world - and thrilled for what the next 5 years will bring.”
Youmna Saba, a musicologist and sound artist, in the ‘Scoring the City’ workshop, co-delivered with Dr John Bingham-Hall (Theatrum Mundi). In this workshop, which will form part of the Darmstadt Summer Course 2020, architects and urban designers create architectural ‘scores’ inspired by graphic notation methods in experimental music. Photo by Fani Kostourou, from ‘Scoring: Beirut,’ April 2019.
We are thrilled to announce that Dr Sarah Lappin, co-director of Recomposing the City, has been named Head of Architecture at Queen’s University Belfast, marking the first time that a woman has been appointed to the post in the Faculty’s 54-year history. Read about Sarah’s appointment here.
Recomposing the City is honoured to have been awarded a Knowledge Exchange Fellowship, in partnership with John Bingham-Hall of Theatrum Mundi, from TORCH: The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities.
This fellowship provides £10,000 for the joint project Scoring the City, developed by Gascia Ouzounian of Recomposing the City together with TM director John Bingham-Hall. Linking to our ongoing interest in the possibilities of sonic urbanism, this experiment at the intersection takes inspiration from graphic scores in music as dynamic forms that could offer new models for the relationship between architecture, design practices, and social life: in other words, between scoring and performing urban space.
Over 12 months we propose to host 4 workshops in very different cities, with common challenges: London and Paris, two global cities needing to create flexible space to accommodate rapid economic and socio-cultural change; and Belfast and Beirut, cities marked by conflict needing to find common spaces across sectarian divides. These will invite architects and composers to collaborate to create scores for sites in transition that challenge the static nature of the architectural blueprint. The process will culminate in a publication of these scores and a launch event. Read more about the project here.
Scoring the City follows TM’s collaboration with Recomposing the City on the Beirut-London exchange workshop Urban Soundscape and the Politics of Memory and a subsequent Optophono edition, ‘Acoustic Cities: London & Beirut’ curated by Ouzounian and Bingham-Hall, with support from UCL Institute for Global Prosperity.
The miniature “In Between” by Elen Flügge was shown as part of the UMBRELLA collective’s audio-visual work “Same Place” which premiered at Sonorities Festival 2018, April 18-22, at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast. It was presented again with other UMBRELLA works November 9-10 at the ISSTA 2018 conference “Who’s Listening? Sound and Public Space.”
In October HIVE choir (including Elen Flügge) were featured “Artists in Resonance” for Open House Belfast. They created several site-specific vocal performances for events such as the “Curating Architecture” panel, chaired by Dr. Sarah Lappin, at the MAC; and for sites including the old Belfast Telegraph newspaper print hall, Infinity Farm, and the Great Light.
On 11 August, Elen Flügge performed as part of HIVE choir at FRAMEWERK’s Sleepover Event, an all night musical and performance event based in the deconsecrated St. Martin’s church in East Belfast.
The sound review “Silent Sonorities and unsound acts” by PhD candidate Elen Flügge was published in Sound Studies Journal. The text “considers the works at two satellite sites of this year’s Sonorities festival, based at SARC in Belfast, UK. The two exhibitions were linked by a focus on practices and forms of listening rather than the presentation of sounding or musical works. Listening is approached as a diversely subjective, shared, guided, uncertain or dangerous activity.” It refers to works by artists including Iris Garrelfs, katrinem, Isobel Anderson, and RTC (Gascia Ouzounian and Sarah Lappin).
Dr Sarah Lappin, Prof Gascia Ouzouninan and Conor McCafferty invited papers for the Architectural Humanities Research Association's 15th annual international conference at TU Eindhoven, "Smartness? Between Discourse and Practice." On 15-17 November 2018, Sarah and Conor chaired the session, "Sound and the Smart City: Mapping Sound and Noise" with three remarkable papers from Dietmar Offenhuber (Northeastern University, Boston); William Renel (Royal College of Art, London) and Eric Lewis (McGill University, Montréal). The session emphasised the political complexity of sound in urban space, in defiance of the simplifying and universalising rhetoric of smart city initiatives. All three papers showcased creative and participatory approaches to sound mapping. Offenhuber (with his co-author Sam Auinger), Renel and Lewis all pointed to the rich potential to stimulate participation and citizenship by bringing together practices of sonic arts and design.
Dr Sarah Lappin and Alan Jones, President-Elect of the Royal Institute of British Architects, co-cooridinated a two-day workshop at Queen's University: "The Landscape of the Profession" 11-12 October 2018. Guests included Rory Hyde, Curator of Architecture at the Victoria and Albert Museum; Yemi Aladerun, Barbara Weiss Architects and Chris Bryant, Almanac Architects. Among multiple other challenges for architects, guests Indy Johar, Sark Matter Laboratories and Elanor Warwick, Clarion Housing both discussed the issue of sound and city planning, particularly in relation to growing urban density and health.
Dr Sarah Lappin was invited to chair "Curating Architecture: the Venice BIennale" as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival on 18 October, 2018. Sponsored by the British Council and PLACE Built Environment Centre, the event featured an introduction to the Biennale by Dr Lappin and several presentations from participants in the 2018 Biennale: artist Marcus Taylor, architects Lawrence Lord, Ian McKnight and Alice Casey, architectural historian Gary Boyd and the British Council's Gwen Webber. Dr Lappin chaired a discussion session with the panel and a Q&A session with the audience.
In her role as the Chair of the Architectural Humanities Research Association, Dr Sarah Lappin chaired sessions at the 15th annual PhD Symposium at the Alvar Aalto University in Espoo, Helsinki. The event included papers from developing scholars, tours of the internationally-renowned campus by Aalto and keynote by Professor Juhani Pallasmaa.
For ten days in October, Dr Sarah Lappin visited 11 schools of architecture and planning in India in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Chandigarh, including the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology. the Centre for Heritage Management and the National Institute for Design. In her role as Director of Education for the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen's, Dr Lappin is investigating possible new research and teaching links with Indian researchers and educators.
Acoustic cladding in one of the classrooms by Le Corbusier at the Chandigarh School of Architecture. Photo by Sarah Lappin.
From our friends at SOUND | MAKING | SPACE
You are warmly invited to:
12th July 2018 | 6-9.30pm
@ Bartlett Here East
Bartlett Sound Making Space Doctoral Network is hosting an exceptional night of talks, screenings, performances, DJs and complimentary drinks to celebrate the end of Sound Series 2…
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In March 2018, Sound | Making | Space co-founder Merijn Royaards and affiliate Christabel Stirling were thrilled to participate in a collaborative research exchange in Beirut, organised in partnership between Recomposing the City and Theatrum Mundi, led by Gascia Ouzounian and John Bingham-Hall. The week-long visit sought to facilitate conversations and connections between sound artists, musicians, architects, urban planners and researchers working on issues of sound and space in Lebanon and the UK.
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ALTERED STATES 1.5 | CITY OF IMPULSE, an initial follow-up event, builds on some of the ideas and projects conceived in Beirut. The evening will include talks from acoustician Fouad Bechwati , the mastermind behind 21DB and the sound designer of some of Beirut’s biggest and best night clubs; and sound artist Nathalie Harb, creator of The Silent Room, a sanctuary-like pavilion that provides Beirut residents with access to silence in a chaotic and sometimes sonically overwhelming urban environment. The event will also include a film screening that delves into the ways in which sound figures in questions of landscape and violence, taking a trip through the vernacular acoustic of Beirut wrought by its deserted modernist structures, concrete shells, and cacophonous soundscape of car horns, traffic, construction work and muezzin calls; and a live performance that repurposes this sonic architecture into something altogether new and surprising.
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The evening will close with DJs and drinks on us!!
Watch the trailer for CITY OF IMPULSE here.
Free tickets can be registered via eventbrite by following the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/altered-states-15-city-of-impulse-tickets-47059563421
** PLEASE NOTE: This event is not at our normal venue, but at Bartlett HERE EAST, Queen Elizabeth Park. The nearest overground station Hackney Wick. **
With special thanks to all of our supporters: Bartlett Doctoral Initiative Fund, London Arts and Humanities Partnership, Recomposing the City, Theatrum Mundi.
The Public Co Lab project in Derry/Londonderry has been awarded a Queen's University Excellence in Team Teaching Award. Recomposing the City's Sarah Lappin and Matilde Meireles both contributed to the teaching on the project, and Dr Lappin has shared the work with the public at several invited talks and conferences. Five of the pavilions designed by the Queen's BSc and MArch architecture students were built at full scale and were seen by over 15,000 people over the weekend of 26-27 May 2018 as part of the Void Gallery's "Architecture of Change" programme.
Click here for press coverage of the event.
Image: Proposed interventions created by stage 1 students, QUB, 2017-2018
RTC associate Dr Matilde Meireles and Dr Diogo Alvim have been awarded first prize for Excellent RC Exposition at the Society for Artistic Research’s General Assembly in Plymouth on 13 April 2018. The prize was awarded for their project Trigger Place – A Game of Sound and Architecture.
For more information, click here.
Image credit: Alvim, D. and Meireles, M.
