“If you listen to a damaged soundscape … the community [of life] has been altered, and organisms have been destroyed, lost their habitat or been left to re-establish their places in the spectrum. As a result, some voices are gone entirely, while others aggressively compete to establish a new place in the increasingly disjointed chorus.”

— Bernie Krause

Murmurans Mundus: Sonic Ecology and Beyond is an international interdisciplinary conference focused on the current matters of acoustic ecology perceived from the perspective of arts and both social and natural sciences. The aim of the conference is to contribute to the international discussion on topics such as noise pollution, options of interpretation and manipulation of the acoustic environment or possibilities to reflex “acoustic ecology” in the educational process.

The conference picks up where the founding conference, CENSE, left off. The Central European Network for Sonic Ecologies conference was held in Budapest at the end of November and beginning of December 2018.

The project is based on collaboration of Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem (CZ), Faculty of Education at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (CZ), The Soundscape Research Studio, Institute of Cultural Studies, University Wroclaw (PL), Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra (SK) and Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest (HU).

Three basic theses, formulated by the composer and philosopher Raymond Murray Schafer in 1977, introduced the idea of acoustic ecology, including his conception of soundscapes, of the ecology of sound, and of the deep listening method. The moment of a factual recording of a sonic situation, of a soundscape, and the further processing of such a recording is seen as less important in this context than the existential and environmental situation connected with the actual act of subjective listening to the manifest acoustic events present in the given space and time.

Since the topic of acoustic ecology in Central Europe is still marginal, this conference aims to ask the right questions, rather than to provide clear answers to them. The program of the event will take place at the Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. Apart from thematic blocks, the conference program also includes workshops, sound performances, sound walks and an exhibition.

Project partners
Faculty of Art and Design at J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem
The Soundscape Research Studio, Institute of Cultural Studies, University Wroclaw
Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest

Topics of the conference

Sound as a source of information and a medium of change of the environment
The acoustic environment as an indicator of the critical state of the world and the need to alter our relation to it. Context as one of parameters for interpretation of the sound, The importance of the social context for our ability to listen and understand the sound.

Sound as an inner experience
Acoustic ecology as a possibility for transforming our relation to the world in both art and science.

Sound and education: sound literacy
Listening as an important part of upbringing and education. Sound activism.

Design and sound
Connections between architecture, urbanism, design, and acoustics.

Organizers and partners

Collaboration
Public Hall Hraničář
Association Mlok
Agosto Foundation

Financial support
Visegrad Fund
Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem
Faculty of Art and Design at J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem

Conference Coordinators
Iva Polanecká
Jan Krtička
Pavel Mrkus

Contact
Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University
Pasteurova 9, 400 96 Ústí nad Labem, CZ

http://murmurans.ujep.cz