This online seminar event occurred November 30, 2020. Recording of the event is available below.
Translating Ambiance plays between the theoretical, political, and aesthetic through scholarship and creative practices concerned with listening, field-work, and connection with place. The project began with an exhibition where artists made field recordings and translated their embodied experiences for a gallery in inner-city Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. A number of the artists then translated their artworks into published form. Together with other creative practitioners and scholars, they have imagined the possibilities of translating ‘wild’ ambiances into densely populated cities for the provision of restorative and evocative environments. Unlikely editor, Norie Neumark will open the Zoom session; guest editor sound artist/scholar Jordan Lacey will introduce the issue; contributor, artist-scholar Luz María Sánchez Cardona will present her work; and theorist Nikos Papastergiadis will respond.
Suggested reading: Translating Ambience and Chapter 1 of Ambient Screens (HKUP) edited by Prof Nikos Papastergiadis.
Luz María Sánchez Cardona is a transdisciplinary artist, researcher, scholar and author of four books. Her work operates in the political sphere with themes like the Mexican Diaspora, violence in the Americas, and the failure of Nation-States. She is the 2020 recipient of an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2020, Digital Communities, for her work Vis. [un]necessary force_3. She is member of the National System of Art Creators (SNCA) and of the National System of Scientific Research (SNI). is Professor at the Department of Arts and Humanities at Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (Mexico).
Jordan Lacey is a DECRA research fellow and creative practitioner in the School of Design, RMIT University. He is associate editor for the Journal of Sonic Studies and author of Sonic Rupture: a practice-led approach to urban soundscape design.
Norie Neumark is an artist/theorist, Honorary Professorial Fellow at VCA and author of Voicetracks: Attuning to Voice in Media and the Arts, among other publications.
Nikos Papastergiadis is the Director of the Research Unit in Public Cultures, a Professor in the School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne, and author of Ambient Perspectives, among other publications.