Urban Sound and the Politics of Memory is a networking and exchange visit to Beirut organised in partnership between the research groups Recomposing the City and Theatrum Mundi.

Can the past be heard in the acoustic ecology of a city? Do the echoes of the past resonate within musical culture, sonic art, and the sounds of public life in streets and buildings? If so, how do practitioners process memory by reshaping the sounds of the city into new forms? During this week long visit we will facilitate opportunities for exchange between practitioners and researchers from Lebanon and the UK, to share understanding of the ways sound art imagines and is shaped by histories inscribed into the fabric of the city. We intend to assemble a small group of musicians, sound artists, urbanists, architects and scholars that will work together to exchange knowledge and practice through a series of activities over 3 days.

UK participants:

Gascia Ouzounian, University of Oxford / Recomposing the City
Richard Sennett, London School of Economics / Theatrum Mundi
John Bingham-Hall, Theatrum Mundi
Christabel Stirling, University of Oxford
Merijn Royaards, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London