Monday, February 24, 2020

SoundEffects journal

Call for abstracts (articles): Special issue of the SoundEffects journal

Theme: Sound and Listening Spaces

Editors: Editors Birgitte Stougaard Pedersen and Therese Wiwe Vilmar


Since what has popularly been called the spatial turn in the second half 
of the 20th century, space has been considered a social, political and 
cultural construct, as e.g. Henri Lefebvre points out in The Production 
of Space (1974). This shift in the notion of space has also affected the 
perception of artworks taking place in space. With sound studies and 
soundscape theories (e.g. Murray Schafer), the temporal artform of music 
has mutated into the spatial medium of sound. Whether we listen to the 
sounds of natural or urban environments, online playlists, audio books, 
curated sound art, muzac, or experience the tingling sensations of ASMR, 
we find ourselves as listeners positioned in an affective space filled 
with sound and at the same time created by sound – a social construct. 
These listening spaces are at the core of this issue of SoundEffects.

The intersection of spaces and sounds is currently being renegotiated 
owing to the revolution of digital media, with sound spaces becoming 
even more fluid and increasingly mobile and portable. For instance, 
listening to one's own exclusive playlist or a podcast when strolling 
through the park creates a personal listening space. Live concerts, 
soundscapes, and sound art are performative spaces that produce an 
atmosphere on their own terms, although they can also be transmitted and 
saved if necessary. The space of listening becomes a selective space 
that changes the immanent sounds of a specific place. This mobility of 
modern media, as well as a deeper concern for various aspects of 
listening (affective, sociological, political, cultural, 
phenomenological etc.), make it interesting to regard the experiences of 
sound and music as particular listening spaces.

This special issue of SoundEffects focuses on the listening spaces that 
we enter, experience and create.

We invite articles concerning the following subjects (this is not an 
exhaustive list):

  * The technology of listening
  * Mobile listening
  * The physical, social, political, phenomenological, affective,
    cultural, and technological aspects of listening spaces
  * Listening and places
  * The philosophy of music, sound and space
  * Sound as constructed listening space in learning environments,
    institutions, cities, sales etc.
  * The "live" space: performance and participation in listening spaces


Important deadlines:
Abstract deadline (300 words): 1 April 2020
Decision regarding the abstracts: 22 April 2020
Article deadline (subject to a positive review of the abstract): 1 
August 2020
Published: December 2020

Please send your abstract to Therese Wiwe Vilmar: twv@cc.au.dk