Soundlab4, curated by Alessandra Coppola for a.pass, aims to be an experimental journey exploring different paths across the soundscapes of Brussels, coupled for this occasion to Tuned City Brussels (see below for full schedule).



The laboratory will work on two main axes: gardening (sound) and atmospheres. We take our inspiration from Gilles Clément’s work on “Le Jardin en Mouvement”. In this particular gardening practice, the gardener does not follow pre-determined plans but he/she tries to work with nature rather than against it. The choices the gardener makes to shape the garden result from the knowledge of how different soils accommodate different forms of life, in which ways these species develop, grow, expand above and under the ground as well as how they interact with each other and the environment. Sounds, unlike plants, do not possess such developed taxonomy; nevertheless we expect to identify various forms of sounds’ “biotopes” [bios=life,topos=place]: where, when, and how do sounds do appear in the city.



As we won’t be relying on scientific measurements, but rather on perception and senses, we will try to define various given soundscapes in terms of the atmosphere they create, rather than formal units of measurement. We use the world atmosphere in many different contexts but when we have to define it, it becomes vaporous, cloudy, difficult to grasp. Atmospheres have no precise  boundaries, nevertheless – as the german philosopher Gernot Böhme – “atmosphere is something you could enter” and furthermore it is “a space which has been emotionally tuned”. (1995 Atmosphäre: Essays zur neuen Ästhetik. Frankfurt am Main states).



Our practices aim to observe, analyze and understand the relationships between soundscape and atmosphere in an urban contexts, and eventually propose actions to alter a given situations with a sound-designing ethos. It will also be a study of urban soundscape from multiple viewpoints: phenomenological, poetic, physic, architectural, social, musical…. We will try not to impose any aesthetics or practice of creation, but be open to as many perspectives as possible with the reception of soundscapes.



PROGRAM:


25 February, at A.pass

10:00 – 12:00 video lecture of Gilles Clement “Le jardin en mouvement”

13:00 – 18:30: workshop, led by Davide Tidoni



26 February, at A.pass & around

10:00 – 18:30: workshop, led by Davide Tidoni



27 February, at A.pass & around

10:00 – 18:30: workshop, led by Davide Tidoni

18:30: public presentation #1



28 February, at Q-O2

10:00 – 13:00: lecture by Paul Devens: ‘sound installation in public space’

14:00 – 18:30: soundlab (listening as performance)



1 March, at A.pass

10:00 – 13:00: soundlab (listening as performance)

15:00 – 17:00: public presentation 2




Contribution for participation in this workshop is 20 euro.

To inscribe contact: Alessandra Coppola

Address a.pass: Delaunoystraat 58-60, B17, 1080 Brussels