Category: projects

lecture by Brandon LaBelle (US)

“Diary of a stranger” (© Brandon LaBelle)

Sound supports a dynamic relationality between self and surrounding, imparting generative instances of contact and belonging, along with interruption and negotiation. From echoes passing across a given space to vibrations underfoot, disturbances from the neighbor to recollections of disappeared voices, this intense relationality can be appreciated as exceeding the sightlines of the architectural imagination, and the limits of the single body, to support alternative notions of shared space – of meeting the other.
Following theories of distributed agency and disagreement, I’m interested to chart out this “acoustics of sharing” by way of over-hearing. At stake is a concern for the potentiality of sound to foster collectivity in the (un)making, and how this may suggest new modalities of “being public”.

[lang_nl]Brandon LaBelle is naast gewaardeerd schrijver, ook actief als theoreticus en uitgever binnen het domein van de auditieve cultuur. Zelf heeft hij als kunstenaar bovendien een speciale interesse in projecten in de openbare ruimte en de rol van de artistieke productie of interventie in een sociale context. Hij gidst u vandaag als moderator door het programma en voorziet enkele micro-acties als intermezzi.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Brandon LaBelle est un auteur apprécié, mais il est aussi théoricien et éditeur dans le monde de la culture auditive. Il s’intéresse en particulier aux projets dans les lieux publics et au rôle de la production/intervention artistique dans un contexte social. Il vous guide à travers le programme avec quelques micro actions comme intermèdes.[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Situational Listening – 29. June 2013

lecture by Francesco Careri (I)

Walkscapes deals with strolling as an architecture of landscape. Walking is considered as an autonomous form of art and a primary act in the symbolic transformation of the territory. It is – as to speak – an aesthetic instrument of knowledge and a physical transformation of the “negotiated” space that is converted into an urban intervention. From primitive nomadism to Dada and Surrealism, from the Lettrist to the Situationist International and from Minimalism to Land Art, this lecture revealing the notion of Walkscapes narrates the perception of landscape through a history of the traversed city. (http://www.walkinginplace.org/converge/iprh/)

[lang_nl]Walkscapes behandelt wandelen als een autonome kunstvorm om een symbolisch gebied te transformeren. Uitermate geschikt als tool voor stedelijke interventie, onthult deze lezing de beleving van het landschap door middel van de doorkruiste stad. Francesco Careri ontleedt hiervoor enkele kunststromingen die lichamelijke beweging doorheen de ruimte als creatief gebaar gebruikten. (http://www.walkinginplace.org/converge/iprh/)[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Walkscapes traite la promenade comme art autonome afin de transformer une zone symbolique. L’idéal pour une intervention urbaine, cette lecture dévoile comment vivre le paysage au travers d’une ville sillonnée. Careri analyse pour cela quelques courants artistiques qui ont utilisé l’exercice physique dans l’espace comme geste créatif. (http://www.walkinginplace.org/converge/iprh/)[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Situational Listening – 29. June 2013

lecture by DOC-team Szilvia Kovács (HU) & Carina Lesky (A) & Anamarija Batista (BiH)

The request for more diverse open public spaces supports the development of the walking culture and produces the need for more walking areas and pedestrian sites. It can be observed that “walking” as a practice and an everyday experience is not just a way of movement, but also an active awareness of environment. In the 1960s the Situationist International introduced “walking” as a method to change the city connecting it to the artistic practice. From their point of view, techniques such as the “derive” can stimulate, affect and alter urban structures. In this lecture DOC-team will focus on how the sound artistic practice connects to the practice of walking as well as to contemporary urban planning strategies.

[lang_nl]Er is alsmaar meer vraag naar wandelgebieden en voetgangerszones in de publieke ruimte. Wandelen omvat niet alleen dagdagelijkse beweging, maar ook een actieve bewustwording van de omgeving. Net zoals de situationisten met “wandelen” als artistieke praktijk de stad veranderden, belicht DOC-team hoe een integratie van geluidskunst zich tot wandelen en stadsplanning kan verhouden.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Il y a une forte demande pour les lieux et zones de promenade. La promenade ne vise plus que l’exercice de tous les jours, c’est une prise de conscience active des lieux. Comme les situationistes qui avec la “promenade” comme art ont changé la ville, DOC montre comment une intégration de l’art sonore peut se rapporter à la balade et à l’urbanisme.[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Situational Listening – 29. June 2013

workshop by Stalker/ON (IT)

this workshop is free, max 10 participants
June 26th – 28th – please register!

Refugees’ status is suspended in between acceptation and refuse, feeling of welcoming or rejected. Refugees’ gaze on our cities can tell us a lot, not just on them but more on us, on the state of our public sphere. Refugees’ every day life is shifting, in just one generation, in between the becoming familiar of the hosting land and the becoming imaginary of the land of birth.
At the crossing of those two perceptions, we want to propose the “Sound like home?” three days workshop with refugees, artists and anyone who is interested and a final public walk. The goal is to make visible and accessible the psychological and cultural gap experienced by refugees inhabiting European cities, and how this is becoming one of the most interesting and underrated emerging cultural visions of Europe, that should help us understanding how our cities are changing.
Stalker will lead a participatory workshop giving to the partecipants the tools and strategies that employ direct unedited forms of cooperative documentation to raise a better self-awareness of their community and of their environment; stressing the idea that participation in the walks is an active way to experience the city. Whilst on the walk you are not passive being led by a guide but you become an essential element of the walk and an active participant in debates about the city underlining the cooperation of its users to generate collective values.
Following the practice of reciprocal learning, the strategies to approach the territory will be defined together with the partecipants at the beginning of the workshop giving to everyone the autonomy to build paths and program; key elements will be casual encounters and spontenous chances of possibility and opportunity which will be the contents of the final narration of the public walk.
The preparatory workshop seeks to collectively explore the ongoing social and urban transformation of the urban space in the city of Brussels, facing and debating together the key words that are defining the today metropolitan areas, urban/rural, us/others, past/future, citizens/institution.

The workshop will be mainly on field.
The workshop will be mainly in English and French.
The workshop is open to refugees and anyone interested in facing refugees issues, experiencing
the proposed practice of crossing and debating on key words about the city of Brussels.

[lang_nl]Stalker/ON dat opgericht werd in 1995, promoot interventies die gebaseerd zijn op de ruimtelijke praktijken van onderzoek, luisteren en verhouding en op creatieve interacties met de omgeving, diens inwoners en hun “collectief geheugen”. Deze processen willen sociale en omgevingsverhoudingen genereren die zichzelf organiseren en mee ontwikkelen met de tijd. Het gevoelig en dynamisch in kaart brengen van gebieden en gemeenschappen die door deze processen gegenereerd worden is altijd makkelijk toegankelijk. De Brusselse workshop van het collectief Stalker/ON organiseert een publieke wandeling in samenwerking met specifieke doelgroepen. [/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Fondé en 1995, Stalker/ON stimule les interventions basées sur les pratiques spatiales de l’exploration, de l’écoute, des rapports créatifs avec l’environnement, ses habitants et leurs “archives de la mémoire”. Ces processus visent à générer des relations sociales et environnementales qui sont auto-organisées et qui évoluent au fil du temps. La mise en place sensitive et dynamique des territoires et des communautés est toujours d’un accès aisé. Le workshop bruxellois du collectif Stalker/ON organisera un trajet publique en collaboration avec des groupes cibles spécifiques.
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Martin Howse (UK/D)

EDE is conceived as a sonic intervention and examination of different scales of communication, micro-events and larger material interactions. Micro-voltages generated by chemical and biological structures such as algae are sensed and physically amplified as a moving beam of light by a simple mirror galvanometer (mirror and coil) apparatus, coupled to a low power laser. A similar apparatus was used to sense tiny currents crossing the Atlantic on heavy underground cables; the first telegrapic systems bending reflections to signal communication, information transmission. The galvanometer beam is equally sensitive to structural movements in the environment and air currents. The laser beam is configured as a simple, ad-hoc interferometer allowing for measurement and sensing of nanometer movements of the beam to be appreciated directly as sound waves. Feedback through structure and air is unavoidable, as is any excitation of the original environment itself.

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

workshop by Udo Noll (D)

this workshop is free, max 6-8 participants
26-30 June – please register!

Over recent years, and thanks to a broad community of artists, phonographers and individuals working with sound and field recording, the radio aporee ecosystem has collected and developed both an extensive body of sound as well as tools for artistic practices and research in the field.

In addition to aspects of collecting, archiving and sound-mapping, the radio aporee platform also invokes experiments at the boundaries of different media, and public space. Within this notion, radio is both a technology in transition and a narrative. It constitutes a field whose qualities are connectivity, contiguity and exchange. Within this, concepts of transmitter/receiver and performer/listener may become transparent and reversible.

During Tuned City Brussels, Udo Noll will accompany the course of the festival with his experimental radio device bx (bROADCAST BOx), a hybrid assembly of tools and techniques for entering and exploring different media spaces more or less simultaneously. The bx is an advancement of the previous concept of fmwalks, a setup combining performative city walks and mobile FM transmitting. It creates a link between the radio aporee soundmap of Brussels, recent recordings from actual city surroundings and live activities at various festival venues. It delivers a daily sound stream in between documentation and artistic radio practice, embedded into the city’s urban atmospheres.

According to its notion of an interface, fmwalks/bx is open for participation. It encourages engagement and collaboration with the other Tuned City projects and artists. During festival hours, transmissions can be received on http://radio.aporee.org.

[lang_nl]Dankzij een brede gemeenschap van kunstenaars, fonografen en individuen, bevat het ecosysteem van radio aporee een uitgebreide klankdatabank. Het platform voert ook experimenten uit die op de grenzen van verschillende media en de publieke ruimte staan. Udo Noll zal het verloop van het festival volgen met zijn experimentele radiotoestel bx (bROADCAST Box) en andere tools. Er wordt opgeroepen tot participatie en engagement en ook tot samenwerking met andere Tuned City Brussels projecten en kunstenaars. Tijdens het festival kunnen de uitzendingen ontvangen worden op http://radio.aporee.org.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Grâce à une large communauté d’artistes, de gramophonistes et d’individuels, l’écosystème de radio aporee comprend une multitude de sons. La plate-forme invoque aussi des expérimentations sur les frontières de différents médias et espaces publics. Udo Noll accompagnera le cours du festival avec son appareil radiophonique expérimental bx (bROADCAST Box) et avec d’autres instruments. La participation est libre et elle encourage l’engagement ainsi que la collaboration avec d’autres artistes et projets de Tuned City Brussels. Durant les heures du festival, des retransmissions auront lieu via http://radio.aporee.org.
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6-8 participants

workshop by Lukas Kühne (D) & Robyn Schulkowsky (US)

this workshop is free, max 6-8 participants
27-28 June – please register!

This workshop is about lively, pure acoustic space investigation with physical sound sources. Unique sub bass marimba keys equipped with monumental sized resonators will be utilized as instruments. The area of the site-specific sound sculpture setting includes different locations at and around the Brussels North Railway Station. The overall aim of this lab is to explore the symbiotic relationship between sound and space in order to create an auditory-spatial-musical-construction that “reads and reflects” the shape and content of the chosen site.

workshop language: English

[lang_nl]Deze workshop draait om levendig, puur akoestisch ruimteonderzoek met fysieke klankbronnen. Unieke subbass marimbatoetsen uitgerust met monumentale resonatoren worden als instrumenten gebruikt. Het gebied van de site specifieke klanksculptuursetting bestaat uit verschillende locaties in en rond het treinstation Brussel-Noord. Dit laboratorium wil de symbiotische verhouding tussen klank en ruimte verkennen om een auditieve-ruimtelijke-muzikale-constructie te creëren die de vorm en de inhoud van de gekozen site “leest en weerspiegelt”.

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[lang_fr]Ce workshop se concentre sur une investigation spatiale animée et purement acoustique. Des marimbas uniques aux tons très bas et avec des résonateurs monumentaux serviront d’instruments. La zone pour les sculptures sonores adaptées aux lieux spécifiques comprend différents endroits dans et autour de la Gare du Nord de Bruxelles. L’objectif général de ce laboratoire est d’explorer le rapport symbiotique entre le son et l’espace afin de créer une construction auditoire–espace–musique qui “lit et reflète” la forme et le contenu de l’endroit choisi.

[/lang_fr]

http://spaceandfrequency.de/spaceandfrequency.pdf

Lukas Kühne (D) & Robyn Schulkowsky (US) and workshop participants

This performance will be a lively, pure acoustic space investigation with physical sound sources. Its format is exploratory with sensual and didactic interrelationships. Lukas Kühne and Robyn Schulkowsky, together with workshop participants, utilize unique sub bass marimba keys equipped with monumental sizes resonators as instruments. Architectonically, spaces at and around the Brussels North Train Station will be explored and mapped out according to their tonality. Acoustically, these findings will be included in a transient urban musical-sonotop installation. The aim is to explore the symbiotic relationship between sound and space, between music and architecture. The result is an auditory-spatial-musical-construction that can read and reflect the shape and content of the mapped locations.

for addition information on the workshop see Space and Frequency – Rhythm Lab.

[lang_nl]Deze performance belooft een bruisend en ruimtelijk klankonderzoek met akoestische klankbronnen. Lukas Kühne en Robyn Schulkowsky, samen met workshop deelnemers, gebruiken hiervoor grote marimba-structuren waarmee ze verschillende ruimtes in en rond het Brusselse Noordstation op hun architecturale en akoestische karakter verkennen. Hun einddoel bestaat erin om een symbiose tussen ruimte en geluid tot stand te brengen.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Cette performance promet d’être une étude pétillante et spatiale des sons avec des sources sonores acoustiques. Lukas Kühne et Robyn Schulkowsky, ensemble avec des participants du workshop, utilisent à cet effet de grandes structures de marimbas avec lesquelles ils explorent les différents espaces dans et autour de la Gare du Nord de Bruxelles pour y découvrir leur caractère architectural et acoustique. Leur objectif final est de mettre en place une symbiose entre l’espace et le son. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

and other instruments by Wessel Westerveld (Der Wexel) (NL)
and Yuri Landman (NL)

The Intonarumori were a family of musical instruments invented in 1913 by the Italian Futurist painter and musical composer Luigi Russolo. They were acoustic noise generators that permitted to create and control different types of noises in dynamic as well as pitch. The invention of the Intonarumori reflected the ideas about the use of noises in music which Russolo expounded in his manifesto L’arte dei Rumori (The Art of Noise). Der Wexel reconstructed a few Intonarumori based on patents, information from museum depots and letters. As new sound machines in which the visual aspect – the object – is a major principle, they illustrate his research into sound and shape.

[lang_nl]In 1913 ontwikkelde de Italiaanse futuristische schilder en componist Luigi Russolo zijn Intonarumori. Met deze familie lawaaimachines kon hij diverse ruisgeluiden met een uiteenlopende dynamiek en toonhoogte opwekken en controleren. Der Wexel reconstrueerde enkele van deze Intonarumori. In zijn nieuwe geluidsmachines primeert het visuele aspect als uiting van zijn onderzoek naar klank en vorm.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]En 1913 le peintre futuriste et compositeur italien Luigi Russolo a conçu son Intonarumori. Avec cette famille de machines à bruits il a su créer et contrôler différents parasitages avec une dynamique et une hauteur du ton variées. Der Wexel a reconstitué un nombre de ces Intonarumori. Dans ses nouvelles machines à bruits il fait primer l’aspect visuel comme expression de sa recherche sur le son et la forme. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

Felicity Ford (UK) & Valeria Merlini (IT)

Felicity Ford and Valeria Merlini will be exploring the sonorities of the city. Based on their first workshop series in March, they produced a radio show with the theme “Listening to Brussels from within and without”. Their second workshop series in June will be focusing on the sounds of the festival and how they intersect with previously documented sounds of the city itself. During the festival aural “refreshers” of the previous day are played at the start of each subsequent day.

The shorts will last 7 – 13 minutes in length, and will be played daily as aural ‘echoes’ from the day before. The shorts will be produced by participants on the Listening to Tuned City from within and without workshop, and will relate the new sounds introduced into Brussels by the festival with the existing soundscape of the city. Interior and exterior perspectives on Tuned City will come in the form of recordings made inside and outside buildings, and in the form of listeners and recordists both native to Brussels and just visiting for the festival.

[lang_nl]
Felicity Ford en Valeria Merlini verkennen de sonoriteit van de stad. Gebaseerd op hun eerste reeks workshops in maart brachten ze een radioprogramma uit met het thema “Listening to Brussels from within and without (Luisteren naar Brussel van binnenin en buitenaf)”. Hun tweede reeks workshops in juni focust op de klanken van het festival en hoe deze kruisen met eerder gedocumenteerde klanken van de stad. Tijdens het festival worden aan het begin van elke dag auditieve ‘opfrissers’ gespeeld van de vorige dag.

Dagelijks zullen korte fragmenten met opnames van de vorige dag worden afgespeeld. Deze auditieve ‘echo’s’ zullen worden gemaakt in samenwerking met workhops deelnemers en zullen een collage vormen van geluiden binnen en buiten gecombineerd met getuigenissen van bewoners en bezoekers.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]
Felicity Ford et Valeria Merlini exploreront les sonorités de la ville. À partir de leur première série de workshops en mars elles ont réalisé un programme radio avec pour thème “Listening to Brussels from within and without”. Leur deuxième série de workshops en juin se concentrera sur les sons du festival et sur la façon dont ils croisent les sons antérieurement documentés de la ville. Durant le festival des “pense-bête” auditifs de la veille seront joués au début de chaque journée.

Chaque jour il y aura un moment de court résumé enrégistré du jour précédent. Ces ‘echos’ sonores seront produit en collaboration avec les participants du workshop et seront un collage de perspectives d’espaces extérieures et intérieures, combiné avec des témoignages des participants locals et visitants.[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / daily symposium intro 28–30. June 2013

Will Schrimshaw (UK)

illustration by Rob Pybus

Charles Babbage wrote in The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise “What a strange chaos is this wide atmosphere we breathe! Every atom retains at once the motions which philosophers have imparted to it, mixed and combined in ten thousand ways with all that is worthless and base. The air itself is one vast library, on whose pages are forever written all that man has ever said or woman whispered.” Turning an ear to the atmosphere, this installation traces imperceptible lines and patiently decodes this vast archival substrate upon which every utterance is impressed. Obscure and confused signals are rendered sensible in the form of speech and broadcast for the pleasure of the passing pedestrian.

[lang_nl]Charles Babbage beschreef in The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise de vreemde chaos die ons omringt. Met een oor op de uitgestrekte omgeving achterhaalt deze installatie onmerkbare lijnen in de enorme bibliotheek lucht. Onzichtbare en onbestemde signalen krijgen vorm in gepraat dat voor het genot van de passerende voetganger weerklinkt.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Dans The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, Charles Babbage décrit l’étrange chaos qui nous entoure. À l’écoute d’un paysage étendu, cette installation recherche les lignes invisibles dans l’énorme bibliothèque qu’est l’air. Des signaux invisibles et sans but prennent forme dans le bavardage qui résonne pour le plus grand plaisir des passants.[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City 28–30. June 2013

site specific work by Lisa Lapierre (F), Audrey Lauro and Patrick Farmer (UK)

This work is tailored to a large underground space with different levels in the neighborhood of the Brussels Government Administration Centre (RAC). The space offers three distinct dimensions – a sonic, a spatial and a psychological one – in which various ways of sonic interaction and communication take place. As our universe is full of contradictory tensions, our daily environment is certainly polluted. This enables us to long for silent places or introspection and explains why distances and intervals between sounds offer you a moment of alienation and the experience of calm. Feedback through concrete, water and air is unavoidable and illustrates how well the sonic intervention is matching the spot.

[lang_nl]Dit werk is afgestemd op een grote ondergrondse ruimte met verschillende niveaus in de buurt van het Brusselse Rijksadministratief Centrum (RAC). De ruimte heeft een bijzondere akoestische, ruimtelijke en psychologische dimensie. Afstanden en intervallen tussen geluiden bieden u een moment van vervreemding en rust aan. Dan wordt duidelijk hoe goed de klankinterventie zich met de plek vermengt.
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[lang_fr]Cette oeuvre est réalisée à partir d’un vaste souterrain avec différents niveaux près de la Cité Administrative de Bruxelles. Cet espace possède des dimensions acoustiques, spatiales et psychologiques spéciales. Les distances et les intervalles entre les sons vous offrent un instant d’aliénation et de repos. L’intervention du son envahit les lieux.[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

performance by Kabir Carter

Report is a spatial and architectural investigation of resonance. Using only a microphone, mixer and speakers, Kabir Carter establishes the acoustic character of a room through the impact of microphone against architecture. By touching, rubbing, scratching and striking surfaces within the selected environment, he generates reverberant, plosive sound events and nodal excitations that form an acoustic sketch of the room. The microphone can also be turned inwards towards the body where clothing, skin and corporeal matter become another set of locations for modifying and supplementing acoustic resonances. The result creates a direct connection between the performing body and the architectural body that contains the event.

[lang_nl]Report is een ruimtelijk en architectonisch onderzoek naar resonantie. Aan de hand van een microfoon, mengpaneel en luidsprekers stelt Kabir Carter het akoestische karakter van een kamer samen. Via aanraken, wrijven, krabben en slaan zorgt hij voor galmende en ploffende geluiden. Het resultaat is een akoestische schets met een directe link tussen het lichaam van de performer en de architecturale ruimte waarin de performance plaatsvindt.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Report est une étude spatiale et architectonique de la résonance. À l’aide d’un microphone, d’un tableau de mixage et de hauts-parleurs, Kabir Carter compose le cadre acoustique d’une pièce. Au travers du toucher, du frottage, du grattage et de frappes, il provoque des sons résonnants et éclatants. Le résultat est une esquisse acoustique avec un lien direct entre le corps de l’artiste et l’espace architectural abritant la performance. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

Christina Kubisch (D)

Since the end of the 1970s Christina Kubisch works with the system of electromagnetic induction, which she developed from the basic technique to an individual artistic tool. In 2003 she started her research on a new series of works in public space, which trace the electro-magnetic fields of urban environments in the form of city walks.The first Electrical Walk took place in Cologne in 2004. Electrical Walks is a work in progress. It is a public walk with special, sensitive wireless headphones by which the acoustic qualities of aboveground and underground electromagnetic fields become amplified and audible. . The transmission of sound is made by built-in coils which respond to the electromagnetic waves in our environment. The palette of these noises, their timbre and volume vary from site to site and from country to country. They have one thing in common: they are ubiquitous, even where one would not expect them. Light systems, wireless comunication systems, radar systems, anti-theft security devices, surveillance cameras, cell phones, computers, streetcar cables, antennae, navigation systemes, automated teller machines, wireless internet, neon advertising, public transportation networks, etc. create electrical fields that are as if hidden under cloaks of invisibility, but of incredible presence. The sounds are much more musical than one could expect. There are complex layers of high and low frequencies, loops of rhythmic sequences, groups of tiny signals, long drones and many things which change constantly and are hard to describe. Some sounds are sound much alike all over the world. Others are specific for a city or country and cannot be found anywhere else. Electrical walks is an an invitation to a special kind of investigation of city centres (or elsewhere). With the magnetic headphone and a map of the environs, upon which the possible routes and especially interesting electrical fields are marked, the visitor can set off on his own or in a group. The perception of everyday reality changes when one listens to the electromagnetic fields; what is accustomed appears in a different context. Nothing looks the way it sounds. And nothing sounds the way it looks.

In March 2013 Christina Kubisch, together with students Pierre Lizin, Lucas Derycke, Annelies Moons, Maarten Coosemans, Misha Koole, Bert Beauprez, Sander Gillis and Joren Carels, explored the Botanical Gardens’ electromagnetic field. In the course of the workshop they drew up a map indicating electromagnetic hot spots that would allow visitors to hear the normally hidden fields of current by means of special wireless headphones. The way we perceive the Botanical Gardens is fundamentally altered by listening to its electrical currents. The known appears in a different context and nothing looks like it sounds.
Is it a Jardin botanique or a Jardin électrique?

[lang_nl]Tijdens een workshop in maart 2013 verkende Christina Kubisch met studenten de elektromagnetische klankvelden in de Botanische Tuin. Met speciale hoofdtelefoons kunnen bezoekers het door hen uitgestippelde parcours afleggen en luisteren naar de normaal gezien onhoorbare klanken van elektriciteit.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Pendant un atelier en mars 2013, Christina Kubisch explorait avec des étudiants les champs électromagnétique dans le Jardin Botanique. Avec un casque spécial, les visiteurs peuvent suivre le parcours crée pendant cet atelier et écouter les sons d’électricité normalement inaudibles.[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

Joanna Baillie (UK)

A darkened room functions as a giant camera (obscura) as the scene from the street outside is projected upside-down onto a screen. The sound consists of live microphone feed from the outside manipulated by a max patch and shaped into a pattern of alternating segments of untreated sound and ‘freezes’, where a split-second of sound is ‘horizontalized’ and stretched into a sustained chord.

The idea of the ‘frame’ as manifested concretely by the projector screen, and temporally by the patterns of alternating frozen and unfrozen sound, is central to the work. The presence of these frames asks us to consider at what point in the process of creative mediation/interference, the raw sonic and visual materials might be considered a work to be contemplated and experienced as art, rather than just a live streaming of reality. The sonic element in particular teeters on the edge between music and non-music. On one hand the sound is coaxed into a fixed rhythmical framework of accelerandos and deccelerandos, and its spectral content broken open and exposed in the frozen chord segments, while on the other, it is clearly at the mercy of the ‘accidental dramaturgy of what happens’ be it the roar of traffic, planes passing directly overhead, children shouting or very little at all (a general sort of background noise).

An element of nostalgia also pervades the work. The camera obscura cannot help but remind us of the early days of photography (and the point-zero of mechanical image-capturing) while the image itself has a painterly quality that might make us think back even further to the interiors and exteriors of 17th century European (and especially Dutch) artworks. The process of freezing the sound also relates to photography and the act of fashioning a split-second of time into an object with a duration that is independent of the transient flow of reality. Freezing the live sound material has two possible outcomes: it may sentimentalize what has just passed by sustaining it artificially and fashioning a kind of nostalgia from it, or conversely, create an ominous atmosphere that casts doubt over future events- something we might term ‘suspense’.

Text: Joanna Bailie.

[lang_nl]Een verduisterde ruimte functioneert als een grote camera obscura met op een scherm de omgekeerde projectie van de straat. Gemanipuleerde en vervormde geluiden van buitenaf weerklinken in een afwisselend patroon van onbehandelde en bevroren klanken. Ze zitten vervat in frames die aanzetten tot het nadenken over wanneer ruwe klank- en beeldmaterialen meer worden dan de overdracht van signalen alleen.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Un espace assombri fonctionne comme une grande chambre noire sur un écran avec projection invertie de la rue. On entend des sons manipulés et distordus de l’extérieur qui alternent avec un canevas de sons non traités et figés. Ils sont emprisonnés dans des limites qui incitent à la réflexion sur le passage de matériel sonore et visuel à une phase qui dépasse le seul transfert de signaux. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

intervention by Dawn Scarfe (UK)

This sculptural installation invites people to use acoustic glasses to discover musical tones in the sound of their environment. Listening Glasses are hollow spheres with a funnel on one side (inserted into the ear) and an opening on the other. Each glass is calibrated to a particular musical tone. If this tone sounds in the surrounding air, the glass resonates and amplifies it. Scientist Herman von Helmholtz (1821-94) developed glass resonators to help him discern subtle partial tones in the sound of musical instruments. Listening Glasses remembers his work and explores the appeal of finding “music” in the ambient sound of our cities.

[lang_nl]Deze sculpturale installatie nodigt mensen uit om met behulp van glazen instrumenten muzikale tonen in hun omgeving te ontdekken. Listening Glasses zijn holle glazen bollen met een trechter aan de ene kant en een opening aan de andere kant. Elk object is afgestemd op een bepaalde toon. Van zodra deze in de omgeving opduikt, zal het voorwerp deze laten weerklinken en versterken.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Cette installation sculpturale invite le public à découvrir les tons musicaux qui les entourent à l’aide d’instruments de verre. Les Listening Glasses sont des sphères concaves avec un entonnoir d’un côté et une ouverture de l’autre. Chaque objet est réglé sur un ton précis. Dès que ce ton surgit dans les alentours, l’objet le fera résonner et le renforcera. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

Mattin (E/BASK) in conversation with Kobe Matthys (BE)

An “stranged conversation” between Stockholm based artist Mattin and Brussels based artist Kobe Matthys. Through this conversation they will be sharing their different experiences regarding their contexts while looking at the  relationship between conflicts and struggles, changes in politics and
economics and the role of culture within these processes. Conversation as a form of improvisation exploring current social noise and how artist can learn from it.

In the book “Noise & Capitalism” Mattin published in collaboration with Anthony Iles (2009), he explores contemporary alienation in order to discover whether the practices of improvisation and noise contain emancipatory moments. He questions how these practices point towards social relations and wonders how we can turn our backs to an environment that is constantly claiming our attention. In a more recent project he deals further with the topic of gentrification and its acoustic markers as well as imprints. In this lecture-performance he will present some new insights in that regard.

[lang_nl]Mattin publiceerde samen met Anthony Iles het boek Noise & Capitalism (2009). Het verkent
vormen van hedendaagse vervreemding en gaat na of het gebruik van improvisatie en ruis tot
emancipatorische momenten kan leiden. Meer recent richt hij zich op gentrificatie – de
herwaardering van stadsbuurten – en de daarbij horende akoestische impact.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Mattin a publié avec Anthony Iles le livre Noise & Capitalism (2009). Il explore les formes de l’aliénation contemporaine et étudie si l’utilisation de l’improvisation et de bruits de fond peut mener à des moments émancipateurs. Récemment il s’est penché sur la gentrification – la revalorisation des quartiers – et sur son impact acoustique.[/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

lecture by Shelley Trower (UK)

Nineteenth century science and technology brought vibration to consciousness in new ways, in the form of siren sounds, railway shocks, and the noises experienced on city streets. At certain speeds, people could now perceive vibration as both multiple (separate, individual impulses or shocks) and singular (like a ‘tone’). At a specific point of rapidity, the separate impulses are lost to consciousness, joining together into a singular tone, but there is a moment between speeds, when the multiple is perceived within the singular.
This lecture considers how certain speeds of vibration exist on the edges of the sensory thresholds. It will present a selection of examples of how vibration became conscious in new ways: how physicists used the siren to demonstrate how separate vibrations become a singular tone; how spiritualists used auditory technologies to speed up spiritual vibrations thereby making them audible; how medical writers attempted to count the separate vibrations or ‘shocks’ experienced on the railway, each of which was presumed to damage the nerves even when not consciously perceived. I will finish with some reflections on contemporary siren noises, especially those of the New York based ‘Rumbler’, and how these frequencies continue to exist on the thresholds of our auditory perception.

[lang_nl]Dankzij de negentiende eeuwse wetenschap en technologie ontstonden er nieuwe inzichten in het wezen van trilling. Bij bepaalde snelheden kunnen mensen trillingen op een zowel meervoudige als enkelvoudige manier waarnemen. In deze lezing wordt nagegaan hoe bepaalde snelheden van trillingen zich op de grenzen van de waarneming bevinden.[/lang_nl]

[lang_fr]Grâce à la science et à la technologie du dix-neuvième siècle nous avons vu la naissance de nouvelles idées sur l’essence des vibrations. À certaines vitesses, l’homme peut percevoir les vibrations de manière multiple aussi bien que simple. Cette lecture étudie de quelle façon certaines vitesses se positionnent sur les limites de la perception. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

lecture by Christoph Cox (US)

Theorists of sound and music tend to distinguish “hearing” from “listening”, the mere registration of acoustic signals from the intelligent understanding of sound. Animals can certainly hear, but only humans can genuinely listen. However commonplace, this idea is rooted in an age-old and highly problematic metaphysics that elevates humans above the rest of the natural world. In this talk, Christoph Cox challenges this metaphysics arguing that a genuinely naturalist and materialist theory of sound must collapse the distinction between listening and hearing and extend the latter not only to animals and other living things, but to inanimate nature as well.

[lang_nl]Theoretici die zich over geluid en muziek ontfermen, onderscheiden “horen” maar al te graag van “luisteren”. Voor hen verschilt het louter akoestisch registreren van signalen van een intelligent inzicht in geluid. Deze opvatting zit echter vast in een eeuwenoude en problematische metafysica die de mens boven de rest van de wereld verheft. In deze lezing pleit Christoph Cox dan ook voor het opheffen van het verschil tussen horen en luisteren.[/lang_nl]
[lang_fr]Les théoriciens qui se penchent sur le son et la musique se plaisent à distinguer “l’ouïe” de “l’écoute”. Pour eux l’enregistrement purement acoustique de signaux diffère tout simplement d’une perception intelligente du son. Or cette idée est ancrée dans une métaphysique séculaire et problématique qui élève l’homme au-dessus du reste du monde. Dans cette lecture Christoph Cox plaide dès lors pour une élimination de la différence entre l’ouïe et l’écoute. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013

keynote lecture by Hillel Schwartz (US)

History is as much an account of what is no longer around as an accounting for what is present. Not only is this particularly true with regard to sound, ephemeral as sounds can be. It is critical to the experience and ongoing redefinition of noise. Making sense of noise – tuning in to its frequency as well as its frequencies, its fractiousness as well as its fractions – demands more of us than sound meters or earbuds, oscilloscopes or advanced circuitry, ear cleaners or anechoic chambers. We must attend to what is masked, what is mourned and what is missing.

[lang_nl]Geschiedenis omvat alles wat er niet meer is en tegelijk datgene wat nog aanwezig is. Dit geldt eveneens voor het efemere medium geluid waarbij het ervaren en herdefiniëren van lawaai ook van belang is. Omdat het duiden van lawaai veel meer omvat dan het ingaan op begrippen zoals oordopjes of anechoïsche kamers, is het volgens hem nodig om aandacht te besteden aan wat doorgaans gemaskeerd wordt.[/lang_nl]
[lang_fr]L’histoire englobe tout ce qui n’est plus mais en même temps tout ce qui est toujours. Ceci vaut également pour l’éphémère média du son qui met en exergue l’expérience et la redéfinition du bruit. Comme l’explication du bruit comprend bien davantage que des termes comme ‘boules Quiès’ ou chambres anéchoïques, il lui semble nécessaire de s’intéresser à ce qui est généralement masqué. [/lang_fr]

appearance at Tuned City
Brussels / Relational Noise – 28. June 2013