The Symposium on Acoustic Ecology
University of Kent, Medway, Kent.
The Symposium of Acoustic Ecology took place during 8th-9th November, 2013 in various locations in the Medway University campus and the Historic Dockyard Chatham.
We were delighted to host this first ever Symposium on Acoustic Ecology here at the University of Kent and the Historic Dockyard Chatham, which proved a great success for the School.
The Symposium of Acoustic Ecology is proud to be endorsed by the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE), investigating soundscapes as complex sounding systems that change in space and time, and shape our understanding of the surrounding world. We are delighted to offer guests a range of talks from global leaders in the field, an array of installations, a selection of Listening Rooms and two concerts.
The Symposium of Acoustic Ecology is first of its kind in Medway, organised and hosted by the School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent. We have a committee who are organising the Symposium with staff from The University of Kent and Goldsmiths College and we are funded by a selection of organisations.
When and Where?
What is Acoustic Ecology?
Acoustic Ecology is a discipline studying the relationship mediated through sound, between living beings and their environment.
Soundscapes present analytical challenges relating to perception, spatio-temporal dynamics, effects of anthropogenic sounds on ecosystems, changing acoustic environments, acoustic biodiversity and unwanted sounds. New possibilities for archiving soundscape recordings or manipulating them have emerged during the last few decades, which raised the potential for composing with associative material.
Acoustic Ecology studies started in the late 1960s with R. Murray Schafer and his team at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada) as part of the World Soundscape Project (WSP). The original WSP team included Barry Truax (who is a keynote speaker at the Symposium), Hildegard Westerkamp, Bruce Davies and Peter Huse. The first study produced by the WSP was titled The Vancouver Soundscape. The interest in this area grew enormously after this pioneer and innovative study and the area of acoustic ecology raised the interest of researchers and artists all over the world. In 1993, the members of the by now large and active international acoustic ecology community formed the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.
The Symposium of Acoustic Ecology is funded by four organisations.
- Kent Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (KIASH)
- School of Music and Fine Arts (SMFA), University of Kent
- School of Anthropology and Conservation), University of Kent
- Goldsmiths College
The Symposium of Acoustic Ecology is run and organised by a committee of staff from the University of Kent as well as Dr John Levack Drever from Goldsmiths College.
- Dr Aki Pasoulas (chair), University of Kent, UK
- Dr John Levack Drever, Goldsmiths College, UK
- Dr Joseph Tzanopoulos, University of Kent, UK
- Duncan MacLeod, University of Kent, UK
- Sound-Image-Space Research Group (SIS; University of Kent)
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE; University of Kent)
- Unit for Sound Practice Research (SPR; Goldsmiths, University of London)
- UK and Ireland Soundscape Community (UKISC; an affiliated member of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology)
- Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust
A new symposium to celebrate the sounds and experiences of Acoustic Ecology is set to take place in Medway during the day and evening of Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November, and is endorsed by the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE).
The Symposium features a full two days of talks by keynote speakers and a special guest speaker – experts in their field, an array of installations, listening rooms and two concerts culminating on the evening of Saturday 9th November with a concert held in the stunning Mezzanine of Slip 3 at the Historic Dockyard Chatham.
The Symposium on Acoustic Ecology investigates soundscapes as complex sounding systems that change in space and time, and shape our understanding of the surrounding world. Soundscapes present analytical challenges relating to perception, spatio-temporal dynamics, effects of anthropogenic sounds on ecosystems, changing acoustic environments, acoustic biodiversity and unwanted sounds. New possibilities for archiving soundscape recordings or manipulating them have emerged during the last few decades, which raised the potential for composing with associative material.
Our Guest Speakers
We are delighted to bring you a selection of talks from global leaders all experts in their field who will give dialogues on various topics of Acoustic Ecology and share some insight into this fascinating area of research.
Prof. Barry Truax
Barry Truax is a Professor in the School of Communication and (formerly) the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University where he teaches courses in acoustic communication and electroacoustic composition, specialising in soundscape composition.
A selection of these pieces may be heard on the recording Sequence of Earlier Heaven, and the Compact Discs Digital Soundscapes, Pacific Rim, Song of Songs, Inside, Islands, and Twin Souls, all on the Cambridge Street Records label, as well as the double CD of the opera Powers of Two and the latest CD, Spirit Journies.
In 1991 his work, Riverrun, was awarded the Magisterium at the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music in Bourges, France, a category open only to electroacoustic composers of 20 or more years experience. He is also the recipient of one of the 1999 Awards for Teaching Excellence at Simon Fraser University.
Barry is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a founding member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community and the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.
Read more about Professor Barry Truax
Dr. Katharine Norman
Katharine Norman is a composer, sound artist and writer, currently an independent scholar and research fellow at De Montfort University’s centre for Music, Technology and Innovation. She has an especial interest in listening, sound and place, and her creative work traverses several disciplines with an emphasis on music and sound art, often involving text.
She recently guest edited two interdisciplinary issues of Organised Sound journal, on listening, sound and place and her interactive sound-essay Window received the 2012 New Media Writing Prize for creative writing in digital media. She is currently composing a work for pianos and electronics about paths and placemaking for Duodort, funded by the Arts Council and a Britten-Pears Foundation award.
She has a PhD from Princeton and has held academic posts in music and sonic art at Dartington College of Arts, Sheffield University, Goldsmiths and City University London. She has also taught in the Communications and Contemporary Arts Departments of Simon Fraser University, Canada, and has taught creative writing at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.
Katharine Norman’s music and sound works are available on several CDs and by download. Her writings include Sounding Art (Eight Literary Excursions through Electronic Music), an unconventional monograph on listening and digital music (Ashgate, 2004), and several commissioned essays on sound.
Read more about Dr Katharine Norman
Richard Ranft is Head of Sound and Vision at the British Library, with responsibility for its world-class collections of music, audio, moving images and newspapers.
Originally trained as a zoologist, in his previous roles at the Library he recorded thousands of environmental sounds, some of which can be listened to online on http://sounds.bl.uk/.
He is also Managing Editor of the academic journal Bioacoustics, President of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society and serves on the board of the International Association of Sound & Audio visual Archives.
Symposium on Acoustic Ecology
School of Music and Fine Art
University of Kent
Chatham Historic Dockyard
To view photos of the event, view the School of Music and Fine Art FlickR site