Symposium: Listening with Agency: sound, media, and social responsibility

Name: Symposium: Listening with Agency: sound, media, and social responsibility
Start: 2026-03-26T11:30:00+01:00
End: 2026-03-26T16:30:00+01:00
Location: UiO : HumSam-biblioteket

Schedule

Thu Mar 26 2026 at 11:30 am to 04:30 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

UiO : HumSam-biblioteket | Oslo, OS

Welcome to this one-day symposium, organised by the Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, which brings perspectives from sound studies and musicology to bear on our understanding of sociopolitical systems, our roles in them, and how we can hold them more responsible.
Through round-table discussions and panel presentations, this event addresses ways we relate to the world through listening, using sound media, and engaging in various expressions of musical creativity in a broader contemporary political, technological, and social landscape.
How can thinking about sound contribute to understanding complex problems, including those that threaten human lives and rights? Can it help offer sustainable solutions? What have we learned from the sounds of the world - including those of violence in war, genocide, climate crisis? How can musicological knowledge inform policy or guide the music industry? Can sonic literacy save our democracies, or perhaps offer other, more just forms of governance and participation?
The symposium will be held at Stort Møterom (rom 2531), Georg Sverdrups hus.
The event is free, coffee/tea will be served and all are welcome!
Speakers:
Prof. Kate Lacey, Professor of Media History and Theory, the University of Sussex
Dr Lucy Cathcart Frödén, independent researcher in sound studies, participatory arts and social change
Hanne Rye Hanssen, former editor at radiOrakel
Prof. Kyle Devine, Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, the University of Winnipeg
Prof. Peter Edwards, Professor of Musicology, University of Oslo
More information and the full programme can be found here: https://www.hf.uio.no/imv/english/research/news-and-events/events/Conferences/2026/listening-with-agency-sound-media-and-social-respo.html
Cover image credits: BlackRhino Radio