Dr. Deniza Popova

Sängerin, Forscherin, Autorin

Konferenz

Soundings

Assemblies of Listenings and Voices Across the South

21.-25. August 2022
Akademie der Künste, Berlin

SOUNDINGS was a 5-day gathering at Akademie der Künste Berlin on 21 – 25 August 2022. The assembly nurtured conversations and scholarly encounters to address the current dearth of critical engagement with Global Souths, and their artistic un-presence in hegemonic Eurological academia and curatorial settings. The focus was on practices, aesthetic histories, artists, and thinkers who come from or engage with discourses, reception formats, and artistic practices that do not draw on or do not situate themselves within or with deference to these hegemonic Eurocentric contexts. It was intended to be the first-ever meeting in which voices of artists, makers, critical theories, and aesthetic practitioners from outside the Eurocentric fields may enter into mutual dialogue and listening without needing to understand themselves through the assumptions and predilections of Western concepts and practice. It was meant to be a meeting dedicated primarily to the dialogues between the epistemologies of what we term the “Sonic Global South” – and to critical analyses of aesthetic and discursive hegemonies, institutional biases, and parochial canons in medial, sonic, and musical discourses and practices. This sonic assembly avoided the usual conference format of a succession of 20-minute lectures and Q&A, leavened by panels. In these 5 days, with each day dedicated to a question, new modes of listening, sharing, and caring were generated from the ground up together with the participants in ways that reflected their situated models of encounter, sociality, knowledge-transfer, listening and deliberations – from multiple simultaneous one-to-one dialogues to the collective fashioning of proverbs – allowing for such variable modes of encounter was central to the de-hegemonizing and de-colonizing impulses of this gathering.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/800172473

Initiated by:
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay
Sandeep Bhagwati

Steering committee:
Glaucia Perez da Silva
Deniza Popova
Bhavisha Panchia
Nguyen Thanh Thuy
Oladele Ayorinde
Murat Gürel
Sandipan Nath
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay
Sandeep Bhagwati

2022, Sunday, 21 August

  • COFFEE, TEA AND SNACKS                                                            → 10:00 Hrs
  • LISTENING BOOTHS AND
    READING ROOM OPENING                                                                   → 10:15 Hrs
  • SILENT KEYNOTES                                                                              → 10:30 Hrs

Why are we here?

  • INTRODUCTORY REMARKS                                                             → 10:45 Hrs

From the Steering Committee

  • PANCHAYAT                                                                                             → 11:00 Hrs

(Focused debates) on questions of Decoloniality and
critiques of Western Modernity, Listening to the non-West

  • THROWING A STONE INTO THE POND                                        → 12:00 Hrs

Luka Mukhavele

  • FOLLOWING THE RIPPLES                                                               → 12:30 Hrs

Discussion

  • LUNCHTIME                                                                                           → 13:00 Hrs
  • WORKSHOPS ON COLLECTIVE CREATION
    AND/OR SONIC GROUP GAMES                                                       → 14:00 Hrs

Sandeep Bhagwati

  • WORKSHOP ON TRADITIONAL STORYTELLING
    FROM SOUTH ASIA                                                                                → 14:00 Hrs

Sudipta Dawn (Culture Monks)

  • WORKSHOP ON DHRUPAD                                                              → 14:00 Hrs

Ashish Sankrityayan (3 hours)

  • MELA                                                                                                         → 17:00 Hrs

Social gathering and celebrations

<!–

  • LISTENING BOOTHS OPENING;                                                      → 17:00 Hrs

Reading room opening
–>

  • INSTITUTIONAL VISIT                                                                        → 17:30 Hrs

Berlin School of Sound (ACUD)

  • THANH                                                                                                       → 19:00 Hrs

Sensing Sounds
Sonic Intervention – Juan Duarte


×
PANCHAYAT

An assembly in which members of a village community discuss issues together to find consensus and settle disputes between individuals and the community.

×
MELA

A gathering held to celebrate a festival, market, religious event, often accompanied by music, dance, theater and other cultural activities.

×
THANH

Thanh is a Vietnamese word that, when read without context, could imply several meanings such as sound and tone. In Vietnamese, it is used to describe something that is long thin/light/transparent/clear/young/tranquil.


Monday, 22 August

  • WORKSHOP ON PLANT SINGING AND LISTENING                             → 09:00 Hrs

Rupert Huber (AdK outdoor)

  • COFFEE, TEA AND SNACKS                                                                        → 10:00 Hrs
  • SILENT KEYNOTES                                                                                          → 10:30 Hrs

What are we debating? / Common sonic practice

  • THAO LUAN                                                                                                          → 11:00 Hrs

(Focused debates) on Terminologies – Group Discussion

  • THROWING A STONE INTO THE POND                                                     → 12:00 Hrs

Amit Dinesh Patel

  • FOLLOWING THE RIPPLES                                                                            → 12:30 Hrs

Discussion

  • LUNCHTIME                                                                                                       → 13:00 Hrs
  • WORKSHOP ON DHRUPAD                                                                           → 14:00 Hrs

Ashish Sankrityayan (3 hours)

  • WORKSHOP ON INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS
    AND PRACTICES e.g. Bauls                                                                              → 14:00 Hrs

Maham Suhail

  • ARTISTS’ TALK                                                                                                  → 14:30 Hrs

Lecture-performance by Tetseo Sisters (online)

  • WORKSHOP ON MAKAM                                                                               → 15:00 Hrs

Traditional Turkish Music – Murat Gürel (60 mins)

  • WORKSHOP ON LISTENING MATERIALITY
    THROUGH FOUND SCORES                                                                              → 16:00 Hrs

Hardi Kurda

  • HOI HOP                                                                                                               → 17:00 Hrs

(Social gathering and discussions)

  • PRESENTATIONS                                                                                              → 17:00 Hrs

Sandeep Bhagwati / David Vélez
Sudipta Dawn / Amanda Gutierrez

  • FILM SCREENINGS                                                                                           → 17:00 Hrs

Virelai Chakra (Sandeep Bhagwati, 2020) 20 min
Kalkimanthankatha (Ashish Avikunthak, 2015) 79 min

  • SABOR                                                                                                                   → 19:00 Hrs

Cooking together

×
THAO LUAN

Thảo luận is a Vietnamese word meaning to discuss issues with an emphasis on analyzing arguments.

×
Hội Họp

Hội Họp is a Vietnamese word that refers to a social gathering. It combines two single words: Hội (which means festival; group) and Họp (meaning meeting to discuss something).

×
Sabor

– To collect, to assemble (събор, from Sabiram)

Tuesday, 23 August

  • WORKSHOP ON PLANT SINGING AND LISTENING                 → 09:00 Hrs

Rupert Huber (AdK outdoor)

  • COFFEE, TEA AND SNACKS                                                            → 10:00 Hrs
  • SILENT KEYNOTES                                                                              → 10:30 Hrs

What are we debating?

  • PANCHAYAT                                                                                             → 11:00 Hrs

(Focused debates) on institutions and funding,
support, and sustenance

  • THROWING A STONE INTO THE POND                                        → 12:00 Hrs

Ashish Avikunthak (online)

  • FOLLOWING THE RIPPLES                                                               → 12:30 Hrs

Discussion

  • LUNCHTIME                                                                                           → 13:00 Hrs
  • INSTITUTIONAL VISIT                                                                       → 14:00 Hrs

Humboldt Forum

  • SOUND WALK                                                                                       → 14:00 Hrs

Amanda Gutierrez

  • INSTITUTIONAL INTRODUCTION                                                  → 15:00 Hrs

Humboldt Forum

  • Sound Practices in the Global South: Co-listening
    to Resounding Plurilogues     (2022, Palgrave)                                 → 16:00 Hrs

-Book presentation at Humboldt Forum
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay

  • MELA                                                                                                         → 17:00 Hrs

Social gathering and celebrations

  • PRESENTATIONS                                                                                 → 17:00 Hrs

Janardan Ghosh (online)/ Trần Kim Ngọc/ Oladele Ayorinde
Listening to the Other (2020)
–book presentation – Stefan Östersjö

  • FILM SCREENING                                                                                → 17:00 Hrs

Dhrupad (Mani Kaul, 1983) 70 mins

  • MESK                                                                                                        → 19:00 Hrs

Jam Sessions:
Mini Violin Concert (Turkish Makam/Traditional Turkish Music)
-Murat Gürel (30 min)
Audio Leakage Community: Intro + Jam Session (partly online)

×
PANCHAYAT

An assembly in which members of a village community discuss issues together to find consensus and settle disputes between individuals and the community.
×
Melā

A gathering held to celebrate a festival, market, religious event, often accompanied by music, dance, theater and other cultural activities.
×
Meşk

A method of transferring knowledge within the master-apprentice relationship in traditional Turkish music.

Wenesday, 24 August

  • WORKSHOP ON PLANT SINGING AND LISTENING                       → 09:00 Hrs

Rupert Huber (AdK outdoor)

  • COFFEE, TEA AND SNACKS                                                                  → 10:00 Hrs
  • SILENT KEYNOTES                                                                                    → 10:30 Hrs

What can we contribute new? / Common sonic practice

  • YELAB AND GISALO                                                                                    → 11:00 Hrs

(Collective soundings) Manifesto on future listening

  • THROWING A STONE INTO THE POND                                              → 12:00 Hrs

Moushumi Bhowmik (online)

  • FOLLOWING THE RIPPLES                                                                     → 12:30 Hrs

Discussion

  • LUNCHTIME                                                                                                 → 13:00 Hrs
  • PRESENTATIONS                                                                                       → 14:00 Hrs

Nguyễn Thanh Thủy

  • ARTISTS’ TALK                                                                                           → 14:30 Hrs

Lecture-performance by Tetseo Sisters (online)

  • WORKSHOP ON DHRUPAD                                                                    → 14:00 Hrs

Ashish Sankrityayan (3 hours)

  • WORKSHOPS ON COLLECTIVE CREATION
    AND/OR SONIC GROUP GAMES                                                              → 14:30 Hrs

Sandeep Bhagwati

  • WORKSHOP ON TRANSCRIPTION                                                      → 15:30 Hrs

Turkish Makam Music – Murat Gürel (45-60 min)

  • WORKSHOP ON VOICES IN WAYS OF SINGING
    AND COMMUNICATING IN MUSIC FROM
    THE SOUTH OF EUROPE (MELOS)                                                          → 16:00 Hrs

Deniza Popova and Fenja Abraham

  • HOI HOP                                                                                                         → 17:00 Hrs

Social gathering and discussions

  • ARTISTS’ TALK                                                                                           → 17:00 Hrs

Ximena Alarcon / Nandita Kumar

  • FILM SCREENING                                                                                       → 17:00 Hrs

Siddheshwari (Mani Kaul, 1989) 120 min

  • TRIALOGUE: SKETCHING SOUTH ASIAN URBAN SOUNDS
    AND SITUATED LISTENING – KOLKATA                                                      → 18:00 Hrs

Ruchir Joshi, Nilanjan Bhattyacharya
and Budhaditya Chattopadhyay (60 mins)

  • NGOMA                                                                                                           → 19:00 Hrs

Cooking sound with David Vélez


×
YELAB AND GISALO

Yelab: a lament in which women go from crying to singing.

Gisalo: describes a physical form of singing and dancing.
×
Hội Họp

Hội Họp is a Vietnamese word that refers to a social gathering. It combines two single words: Hội (which means festival; group) and Họp (meaning meeting to discuss something).

×
Ngoma

A tradition of expression through forms such as music, drumming, dance and storytelling.

Thursday, 25 August

  • WORKSHOP ON PLANT SINGING AND LISTENING                 → 09:00 Hrs

Rupert Huber (AdK outdoor)

  • COFFEE, TEA AND SNACKS                                                            → 10:00 Hrs
  • SILENT KEYNOTES                                                                              → 10:30 Hrs

What is the future of this gathering?

  • PANCHAYAT                                                                                             → 11:00 Hrs

(Focused debates) on next steps (Summary Session)

  • THROWING A STONE INTO THE POND                                        → 12:00 Hrs

meLê yamomo

  • FOLLOWING THE RIPPLES                                                               → 12:30 Hrs

Discussion

  • LUNCHTIME                                                                                           → 13:00 Hrs
  • INSTITUTIONAL VISIT                                                                       → 14:00 Hrs

HKW (House of World Cultures)

  • MAJLIS                                                                                                     → 17:00 Hrs

Musical gathering and celebrations
With Splitter Orchestra at TBA


×
Panchayat

An assembly in which members of a village community discuss issues together to find consensus and settle disputes between individuals and the community.

————————————-
SOUNDINGS is produced by matralab Montréal and Sound Across Den Haag, and financially and/or strategically supported by Akademie der Künste Berlin, inm / field notes berlin, Creative Industries Fund The Netherlands, Sounds Now and Ultima Festival Oslo.

https://soundacross.org/soundings/