In what ways does sound contribute to self-determination and the making of worlds? As an energetic material, sound can be appreciated as a medium for social transformation, supporting movements of emancipatory struggle and the configuration of unique styles of existence. It emerges in scenes of protest, giving way to noisy interruptions; and it underpins the making of rhythms and counter-rhythms by which to synchronize with others, forming unique paths for moving otherwise. Sound is also silence, positioned in ways that shape the distribution of the heard, and how it is we may listen to each other – as well as refuse certain audibilities. It is agitational, vibrational and interruptive as well as binding, sticky and generative, making it possible to interfere with dominant logics of legibility. Such qualities also contribute to a range of artistic projects, defining the field of sound art as the art of sonic imagination. 

Drawing from these perspectives, the course investigates sonic agency as a critical and creative framework which can contribute to artistic research and work, especially in ways that enhance a freedom of expression. We’ll follow the topic through four sonic figures or research paths, including: the invisible, the overheard, the itinerant and the weak. These are offered as key attributes of sound itself, understanding it as an invisible matter that often multiplies or disrupts boundaries and borders, giving way to itinerant, migratory, cross-cultural and promiscuous movements; and yet, sound also weakens us, making us vulnerable to an exterior greater than ourselves, providing for a deeper knowledge of the relational and what Bracha Ettinger highlights as the “inseparability” of our human condition. These four paths will allow for expanding an understanding of how sound is mobilized as a medium for social transformation as well as for reinventing personal identities. In this regard, sound is positioned as a state of being supporting what Dimitris Papadopoulos calls “alter-ontologies” which, in the case of sonic agency, lends to emergent forms of resistance and creative worldings. 



The course will include readings and discussions of selected theoretical and creative texts related to a diversity of cultural contexts, as well as listening-with particular artistic examples and methods. We’ll also undertake a number of creative activities exploring ways of working with sound, from field recording to sonic intervention, and how sound may reshape or retune the dynamics of place. Students will also be expected to create a final project, developing their own methodologies and ideas of sonic agency and how it may relate to one’s own creative concerns.

Bibliography:

Luis E. Cárcamo-Huechante, Acoustic Colonialism: Acts of Mapuche Interference


Ana Maria Ochoa Gautier, Aurality: Listening and Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Colombia 

Masimba Hwati, Chidzimbahwe Philosophies of Sound: An Ethics of a Humble and Intimate Custodianship


Brandon LaBelle, Sonic Agency: Sound and Emergent Forms of Resistance

María del Rosario Acosta López, On the (im)possibility of listening to oneself


Kevin Quashie, The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture

Dylan Robinson, Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies