Research Night: Near Silence: The Politics of Quiet

This public gathering invites practitioners to reflect on ‘the politics of quiet,’ asking how sound might indicate the health of more-than-human environments, what interventions are possible within human-dominated soundscapes, and how ‘noise’ and ‘silence’ are socially constructed. With Through Sounds, ALMARE, KMRU, Katía Truijen (Loom), and Martina Raponi.

Curated and produced by ALMARE, Near Silence focuses on quiet rural and semi-rural areas as key sites for listening to the effects of climate change and the loss of soundscapes. The project brings together sound artist KMRU and filmmaker Fred Odede for a residency in a quiet Alpine region of Northern Italy, where they collect field recordings and speak with local communities.

The roundtable builds on this work, exploring how listening practices connect environments, ways of living and urban spaces, and how technologies shape what we can hear and understand.

Participants are also invited to share other contexts and sites where similar questions around sound, ecology and listening are being explored.

Programme

• 19:00 — Introduction
• 19:20 — Speaker presentations
• 20:30 — Open discussion
• 21:00 — Close

Near Silence and the event Near Silence: The Politics of Quiet are supported by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo within the grant “Starter”. The event Near Silence: The Politics of Quiet is supported by Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Amsterdam.

Through Sounds
Led by Federica Notari, Through Sounds is a research project by the Nieuwe Instituut that explores how and where we listen to music, whether in physical spaces such as concert halls or in virtual spaces such as streaming platforms. As music circulates — from file sharing to streaming — the distinction between the online and offline worlds becomes increasingly blurred.

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Host or Publisher Nieuwe Instituut