Die Emmy Noether-Forschergruppe “Die Zukunft in den Sternen” organisiert vom 30. November bis 01. Dezember 2012 in Berlin einen Workshop zu dem Thema “Sounds of Space”. Nähere Informationen befinden sich hier. Die Konferenzsprache ist Englisch und wir bitten um vorherige Registrierung bei William R. Macauley per Email: william.macauley@fu-berlin.de.

English Version:

The workshop Sounds of Space examines the fundamental role of technology, craft skills, and situated knowledge for realizing outer space and space exploration in sonic forms that resonate through physical, perceptual and imaginary worlds. Focusing on the period extending from the late 1940s to 1980, contributions explore ways in which sonic technologies, sound and music production, soundscapes, mass media and listening practices have shaped and been shaped by knowledge and understanding of outer space. For further information and to register please contact the convener William R. Macauley at william.macauley@fu-berlin.de

 

Program

FRIDAY, 30 November 2012

09:00 Welcome

Alexander C.T. Geppert (Berlin)

09:10 Introduction

William R. Macauley (Berlin)
Venturing into Sounds of Space during the Postwar Period

09:30 Feature Presentation

James Wierzbicki (Sydney)
The Imagined Sounds of Outer Space

10:30 Coffee

11:00 Panel I: Sounds of Space in Art and Opera

Chair:   Claudia Schmӧlders (Berlin)

Tatjana Böhme-Mehner (Leipzig)
The Topic of Space as Justification: The Appearance of Outer Space and Space Travel in Pierre Schaeffer’s “La Coquille à planètes”

Johan Stenström (Lund)
The Significance of Electronic Music in the Space Opera “Aniara”

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Panel II: The Human Voice and Sounds of Space

Chair:   Matthias Schwartz (Berlin)

Konstantin Kaminskij (Konstanz)
The Voices of the Cosmos: Electronic Synthesis of Special Sound Effects in Soviet vs. American Science Fiction Movies from Sputnik 1 to Apollo 8

Tim Boon (London)
Music for Spaces: Music for Space

15:00 Coffee

15:30 Panel III: Synthesizing Sounds of Space

Chair:   tbc (…)

Trevor Pinch (New York)
Inner Space and Outer Space: How the Early Electronic Music Synthesizer Took Us There

Axel Volmar (Siegen)
Cosmic Symphonies: Electronic Music Culture, Analog Synthesizers, and the Birth of Superstring Theory in the 1970s

17:00 Coffee

17:30 Performance

Eliad Wagner (Berlin)
Crossing Streams: Instant Composition Using the Sound Vocabulary of Science Fiction

SATURDAY, 1 December 2012

09:00 Panel IV: Sounds of Space in Popular Music

Chair:   Bodo Mrozek (Berlin)

Michael Mooradian Lupro (Portland, OR)
“Just my Job, Five Days a Week:” Soundscapes of Space Labor in Apollo Era Pop Music

Cathleen Lewis (Washington, DC)
Okudzhava and Scott-Heron: The Social Critique Soundtrack of the Space Race

10:30 Coffee

11:00 Panel V: Sonification of Outer Space

Chair:   tbc (…)

Alexandra Supper (Maastricht)
Eerie Whistling and Tribal Cosmic Heartbeats: The Silencing of Craft Skills in the Sonification of Astrophysics

Pawel Frelik (Lublin)
Dark Transmissions: Cosmic Visions in Contemporary Music

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Panel VI: Intelligent Sounds from Outer Space

Chair:   Alexander C.T. Geppert (Berlin)

Anna Klara Capova (Durham)
Listening to the Sounds of Space

Stefan Helmreich (Cambridge, MA)
Listening Through Alien Ears to the Voyager Interstellar Record

15:00 Coffee

15:30 Closing session

Chair:   William R. Macauley (Berlin)

16:30 End of workshop