Conference: The Sound of Sound Studies

Annual conference of the AG Auditive Medienkulturen & Sound Studies in the Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft 

From July 8 to 10, the 2021 annual conference of the AG Auditive Medienkulturen & Sound Studies in the Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft will take place in Lüneburg for the second time. While originally intended to be held in spring, we are cautiously optimistic that the conference will, in all likelihood, take place as a hybrid event. This means that in addition to online participation, we would be very happy to welcome a limited number of participants in-person in Lüneburg.

The title of the AG conference 2021 asks for the specific sound of Sound Studies. We would like to provide a space for the discussions on the various self-conceptions and subjects and on the multitude of methods and research approaches, which are currently kept together academically under this ›genre-defining‹ title. Its wide opening for new objects of study and specifcally ›sonic‹ methods of working is fully reflected in the concept of sound.

Against this backdrop we want to talk about the current sound of the name Sound Studies as part of the ensemble of academic discourses. What do these ‘Studies’ sound like today: how has their project changed the way science speaks about sound (and more)? Which methodological reorientations resonate in their sound? What do possible futures of the sciences of music and sound look like?

Participation & Registration

Registration for the conference is now closed. Anyone wishing to attend on short notice (and online) can email The Sound Of Sound Studies for Zoom access.

Hygiene measures

In order to guarantee a safe participation also in-person, the conference will be held in compliance with the relevant state regulations and the hygiene measures of the university. All participants will receive detailed information about the hygiene concept (wearing of (FFP2) masks indoors, mandatory testing) at a later date.

Accommodation in Lüneburg

Hotels in Lüneburg have resumed normal operations after the restrictions were lifted. We have reserved a contingent of rooms at the Hotel Residenz in immediate vicinity of the campus, which can be booked through us. Alternatives would be the Altes Kaufhaus in the city center or the Seminaris Hotel am Stadtpark. We are currently inquiring about other low-cost accommodation options (youth hostel, sports club).

Preliminary program

Abstracts /The Sound of Sound Studies 2021

Thursday, 8.7.2021

11:00 bis 12:00Greeting & introduction

Anna Schürmer (Halle)
Kopernikanische Wende in der Medien|Musik
(introductory sound lecture)
12:00 bis 13:30Session 1

Luisa Drews (Berlin) & Robert Stock (Berlin)
Akustische Übersetzungen von Träumen und Tinnitus: Zur Verbindung von Sound und Dis/Ability Studies

Maximilian Haberer (Düsseldorf)
Unerhört! The Un-Sound of Sound Studies

Felix Gerloff (Basel) & Sebastian Schwesinger (Berlin)
Jenseits der Litanei. Sonic Displays oder eine kulturwissenschaftliche Mediologie des Klangs 
13:30 bis 14:30Lunch break
14:30 bis 16:00Panel Discussion I
Methoden und Gegenstände der Sound Studies

mit 
José Galvez (Bonn), Johannes Ismaiel-Wendt (Hildesheim), Carla Maier (Berlin) & Sabine Sanio (Berlin); Moderation: Malte Pelleter (Lüneburg)
16:00 bis 16:30Coffee break
16:30 bis 18:00Session 2

Sonja Grulke (Berlin)
Die Ordnung der akustischen Dinge. Eine Typologie klanglicher Artefakte 

Thomas Felfer (Sussex)
»Der Stille einen Klang geben«. Klänge im Museum.

Giada Dalla Bontà (Berlin)
How Did The End Of Ussr Sound Like? – Bicapo. Industrial aesthetics and shamanistic mysteries in sound and artistic practices of late Soviet non-official culture  
18:00 bis 20:00Break
ab 20:00Student Panel

Jakob Wössner: Tracking Capitalist Realism  
Martin J. Hoffmann: Sound in der Pornographie
Katja Stafenk, Frenz Jordt: Gender – Stimme – Zukunft 
Charlotte Amian: Sunday Morning Sessions 

Friday, 9.7.2021

10:00 bis 11:30Session 3

Fritz Schlüter (Berlin)
Beredte Stille. Zum Gebrauch der »Atmo« in der Praxis der Tongestaltung 

Lee Gilboa (Providence)
Normalizing Noise: A Sonic Reflection On The Erasure of Difference In Culture

Philipp Kohl (München)
Reverberations of Chernobyl (1979–2019)
11:30 bis 12:00Coffee break
12:00 bis 13:30Session 4

Sarah-Indriyati Hardjowirogo (Lüneburg)
»The Sound of What?« Instrumentale Identitäten zwischen Genrezuschreibungen, kultureller Praxis und Sound Design

Alyn Euritt (Leipzig)
Bad Intimacy: Invasion, Disgust, and Bodily Boundaries in Podcasting

Elizaveta Willert (Berlin)
Intersektionales Hören und intersektionales Schreiben? Training für die Forschungsohren 
13:30 bis 14:30Lunch break
14:30 bis 16:00Session 5

Sebastian R. Richter 
Klang und Kontext am Beispiel des Horror-Genres

Max Weigelin (Eichstätt)
Die Tonspur der Situation – Analytische Perspektiven und empirische Impressionen für Sociological Sound Studies

Jan Torge Claussen (Lüneburg)
The Sound of Karate: Die Erforschung der Kampfkunst im musikalischen Spiel(en)
16:00 bis 16:30Coffee break
16:30 bis 18:00Panel Discussion II
Geschichte und Status der Sound Studies

mit 
Maren Haffke (Bayreuth), Anna Schürmer (Halle), Holger Schulze (Kopenhagen) & Axel Volmar (Siegen); Moderation: Rolf Großmann (Lüneburg)
20:00Communal dinner together in Schröders Garten

Saturday, 10.7.2021

10:00 bis 11:30Session 6

Nico Daleman (Berlin)
Smells Like Neon Lights, Tastes like Pigmented Speakers. How does Klangkunst actually sound?

Julian Kämper (München) & Felix Kruis (München)
SOUND POSITIONIEREN. Über das Feldrechercheprojekt »Sounddramaturgien«

Christian Märkl (Hamburg)
Elektroakustische Transformation realer Klangräume im Kontext von Verräumlichung und künstlerischer Gestaltung
11:30 bis 12:00Coffee break
12:00 bis 13:30Session 7

Maurice Stenzel (Erfurt)
Deconstructing Sound. Tracks als epistemische Ressource in Online-Netzwerken

Jonas Kellermeyer (Basel)
Pop im Zeichen relationaler Umweltlichkeit — Hyper-Text, Hyper-Pop, Hyper-Ironie, Hyper-Objekt, Hyper-Kultur!

Ania Mauruschat (Kopenhagen)
Music as Seismographic Sound: Zum Vermächtnis der Inuit Pop-Musikerin Kelly Fraser zwischen Kolonialismus, Klimakrise und globaler Digitalisierung
13:30 End of the conference, possibly followed by an internal AG workshop (tba)