Sound in Theory, Sound in Practice: A Two-Day Symposium
Sound in Theory, Sound in Practice brings together scholars and practitioners to consider the potential of thinking about and through sound. Recent years have witnessed a sonic turn in the humanities and beyond. Many working in the fields of anthropology, literature, urban studies, history, media studies, and the arts have increasingly shifted their attention to sound as both an expressive medium, a material, and a critical object of inquiry. Under the auspices of Experimental Humanities and the Sound Cluster at Bard College, this two-day symposium will focus on questions of aurality, transmission, aesthetics, and evidence.
Breaking with conference convention, the symposium will invite participants to engage in a lively dialogue around keywords and questions that have emerged through discussions in the sound cluster. Complementing a series of three roundtable discussions will be two keynote addresses by Emily Thompson, author of The Soundscape of Modernity and Jonathan Sterne, author of The Audible Past and editor of The Sound Studies Reader, an exhibition of sound art by Bard faculty, students, and invited sound artists, and experiential workshops taking the form of sonic “interludes” between panel discussions.
Organized by the Sound Cluster
Laura Kunreuther, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Alex Benson, Assistant Professor of Literature
Matthew Deady, Professor of Physics
Danielle Riou, Associate Director of the Human Rights Project
Maria Sonevytsky, Assistant Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology)
Julianne Swartz, Artist in Residence
Drew Thompson, Assistant Professor of Africana & Historical Studies
OIga Touloumi, Assistant Professor of Art History
Sponsored by Experimental Humanities, Center of Civic Engagement, Human Rights Project, and Bard College.
