Entry written by Philippa Lovatt
I was very fortunate to receive funding from the Division to allow me to attend the inaugural European Sound Studies Association Conference in Berlin 4-6th October 2013, which was organised by the Sound Studies Lab at Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin and the international research network Sound in Media Culture. The conference theme ‘Functional Sounds: Auditory Culture and Sound Concepts in Everyday Life’ brought together a wide range of fascinating approaches to sound studies from sonic artists, sound designers, sound archivists, historians, geographers and musicologists. The range of topics covered at the conference was extremely impressive and inspiring. For my own research, I was particularly interested in the number of papers that addressed sound and politics through topics as rich and diverse as the use of extreme metal music in military interrogations (Dominik Irtenkauf), and the gendered and classed experience of sonic geographies in the Smithfield Square area of Dublin (Linda O’Keefe). Keynote papers came from Douglas Kahn who discussed the sonic environment and Jason Stanyek who talked about the history of noise cancellation technologies, and both addressed the core concerns of the conference in thought-provoking ways.
My own paper, entitled ‘Carceral Soundscapes: Sound and Embodied Experience in films about Imprisonment’, explored how ideas about sound, power and space in lived experience can be mapped onto the microcosm of the prison environment as it has been depicted on film, and focused in particular on A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956) and Hunger (Steven McQueen, 2008). Sound design in film can provide insights into how characters perceive their environment through subtle changes in auditory perspective. In this way, it can also align the spectator with the perspective of particular characters. My paper considered what kinds of emotions this ‘closeness’ draws out (empathy, pity, disgust?). And considered the ethical implications of this phenomenological experience of cinematic space when viewing extreme physical and emotional suffering of the kind depicted in these films.
The opportunity to exchange ideas at ESSA with people similarly interested in sound but from very different backgrounds had a bit impact on my own thinking about the subject of cinematic depictions of sound and imprisonment, and sound and violence. I have since begun developing this work into a longer piece that I intend to become part of a monograph on Sound Design and the Ethics of Listening.
Judging by the range, volume and quality of papers and performances at ESSA in Berlin, this is a very exciting time for sound studies as it finally emerges as a field in its own right. Inspired by the transdisciplinary opportunities that sound studies presents us with, along with colleagues at University of Edinburgh (Dr Martin Parker) and University of Glasgow (Dr Michael Gallagher and Dr Nick Fells), I have organised the first meeting of the UK Sound Studies Network to take place in Glasgow on 30th April 2014. If you’d like to join us, please feel free to email me at philippa.lovatt@stir.ac.uk to book a place.
http://soundstudiesblog.com/2014/02/10/soundwalking-through-smithfield-square-in-dublin/