EUROPEAN ACOUSTIC HERITAGE Detailed description of the project Strand 1.2.1 - Cooperation measures. Culture Programme 2007-2013 September 2010
Contents of the document: Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 General concept and objective of the Project................................................................................................................ 2 Activities and results ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 Calendar and milestones ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Acoustic Environment as a part of European Culture Heritage ..................................................................................... 8
Introduction “We are what we sound”. This is what the sound environmentalist Murray Schafer has so clearly expressed. And how do we sound nowadays? What is the sound of Europe? How are our memories and history expressed through the sound? According to UNESCO, the “intangible cultural heritage” means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. The processes of globalization and social transformation favour the trend of deterioration, disappearance and destruction of the intangible cultural heritage. Within this intangible culture, usually not preserved in tangible media, there is an audible culture. It is made up by the sounds that composed our memories, bringing the atmosphere back from the past as well as “travelling” to innovative contemporary places. This enhances the value of an acoustic space and audible environment in urban context. Paying attention to this aspect of urbanism helps to prevent from its disappearance and gives living spaces a new quality. Defining the audible environment or soundscape as a part of our cultural heritage means, besides the recovery of an important part of it, learning to listen better. Related to this objective it is important to train the audience of the future, by making the children aware of it and training them on how learning to feel the audible dimension of their environment. The coordinator of the idea is Axencia Galega das Industrias Culturais (AGADIC), a regional public agency aimed to support the cultural industry from Galicia, Spain. Together with the coorganisers it will develop a work programme during two years addressed to research on the European acoustic heritage, to preserve it by new techniques and to define and disseminate it. Partners are as follows: the University of Applied Sciences of Tampere, with a wide and important knowledge on acoustic environments throughout Europe; the Centre de recherche sur l'espace sonore et l'environnement urbain (CRESSON) of L'École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Grenoble and member of the International Ambiances Network, with a long research background and publications about the audible dimension of architecture and urban space with multi-disciplinary methods; the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften by the Phonogrammarchiv, with a valuable sound recordings archive and extensive documentation on the
topic, including conceptual work. Fundación Illa de San Simón was created to preserve and promote values and activities of cultural and environmental heritage, including education and cultural exhibitions. Besides these direct members and participants the idea was born in close cooperation with other institutions and groups from different countries. From an intercultural and interdisciplinary point of view all of them will work jointly to define a first European Acoustic Heritage map of sounds, through the history and through the geography. How could we attract the attention to the soundscapes and acoustic heritage of the European contemporary society?
Return to the acoustic ecology. Following the steps of Murray Schafer and WSP The term soundscape was coined by the Canadian composer and environmentalist, R. Murray Schafer. It refers to an audible environment formed by three dimensions, made up with elements like natural sounds and sounds created by humans through musical composition, sound design, conversation, work, and sounds of mechanical origin resulting from the use of industrial technology. In the late 1960s he found the World Soundscape Project (WSP) at Simon Fraser University. This international research project is focused on finding solutions for an ecologically balanced soundscape where the relationship between the human community and its sonic environment is in harmony. The European Acoustic Heritage project will follow the work carried out by international teams, some of them participants of this project and with valuable resources of European soundscape recordings and research. With a similar philosophy and educational aims, our goal will be to develop the European Acoustic Heritage and to create the European Study Workgroup to improve the exchange and disseminate these cultural values.
General concept and objective of the project The “European Acoustic Memory” is aimed at discovering and enhancing the “soundscapes of Europe, the different sounds that make up the imaginary world and personality of the places and environments as a part of the European common cultural heritage. Through this unity in diversity, the respect for cultural and linguistic diversity and the promotion of a common cultural heritage, as it is proposed by the European Cultural Agenda. The project will provide bibliographical references about the audible aspects of the cities, recordings of the audible landscape from several places as well as documents that analyse the gathered material. It will also contribute to strengthen and disseminate the common heritage through actions addressed to the widest diffusion and visibility of the results all across Europe. The production of all these contents will provide an opportunity to consider the sound as a living heritage, which must be preserved and enhanced because of its fragility. Furthermore it will show the importance of the sound of human spaces as a piece of the European culture, such as the sound of the squares, the parks, the human voices and the sound of children playing at the schoolyard, the sound of a street in a rainy day, the sound of an industry area or transport and more human activities. The “European Acoustic Heritage" will help to generate experiences in different places throughout Europe that define audible identities and common spaces. Supported by the technology and the communication tools the organisers will disseminate the results reached by the project, as well as the work with other groups and associations.
A European Net for an acoustic heritage will be launched by means of this project, in order to transfer the experience to other countries in the EU, through the contact with other institutions that are working on the topic. One way to spread the idea and the result will be the international nets, such as the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE), through the Suomen Akustisen Ekologian Seura (Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology) (FSAE), that cooperate with the proposal since the beginning. The International Ambiances Network aims at structuring and developing the research field of architectural and urban environments. One of its members is the Cresson Laboratory.
European Acoustic Heritage
Activities and results th
The project will be structured in 5 phases, with a 6 coordination and management of the project:
phase dedicated to the general activity of
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1 PHASE: JOINT ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN SOUNDSCAPES IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES ND
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PHASE: EUROPEAN ACOUSTIC HERITAGE IDENTIFICATION
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3 PHASE: TRAVELLING EXHIBITION TH
4 PHASE: PEDAGOGICAL ACTIONS TH
5 PHASE: TRANSFER th
6 PHASE: COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT ST
1 PHASE: JOINT ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN SOUNDSCAPES IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES
1.
The first step to start up the European Acoustic Group will be to set up the study- group in each participating country, involving technicians and scientists of each member institution. Therefore, at the beginning of the project (at the end of May 2011), a first meeting will take place to define together the fields to work and research and the archives available. The contents and objective of this first activity is to make up the study group by each partner, identifying members and collaborators, and to define together the elements that make up and symbolize the European Acoustic Heritage from a geographical and historical perspective to focus the analysis and study. There is a huge number of archives and recordings, as well as knowledge and analysis already on the topic of audible environments. The project will start taking the materials and advances achieved in several previous studies, which help to define and feed the study of a European Acoustic Heritage and make progress on the research, and focus the field work on unrecorded sounds.
2.
Once the lines and themes are defined, the second activity called "Analysis of the contemporary and historic soundscapes" is addressed to analyse the archives with old recordings and to bring some new soundscapes. It will be necessary to carry out a work to improve the quality and preservation of old archives through the new technologies, regarding the recordings of the past. And a fieldwork carried out by technicians of new soundscapes will also be needed to complete the general heritage.
The specific objectives of this activity are:
3.
To get fieldwork recordings that will represent the acoustic environments of the cities and the acoustic domestic space.
To recover the most important sounds that belong to domestic and social environments that disappeared during several stages of the history: Iron Age, Roman Age, Mediaeval Age, Modern Age and Industrial Age.
To register and identify those recorded sounds that are probably to disappear or being taken over.
To define several sounds by each one of these categories: natural, traditional occupations, mechanic, industry, acoustic tones, social interaction, silence, sound events, etc.
To prepare technical cards for each soundscape registered in the fieldwork.
This phase includes a third activity, the creation of a Web Platform for the European Acoustic Net. Its objective is to serve as a tool to upload information and as a way to communicate among partners and collaborators. Since the beginning of the project this website will also allow the general public to know the aims and expected results of the project, to participate in it and as a contact point. It will also include a newsletter to keep in contact and spread information about soundscapes research and acoustic environments. In order to contribute to disseminate the project and the European culture, this platform will include a part related to cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. Selecting some results of the different project’s phases, on this page a map of soundscapes of Europe will show the value of cultural diversity and promote the cultural exchange and knowledge of each other. Besides there will be another part focused on creativity, a space for information and contact between associations and artistic groups that work on sound composition and audible spaces creation to contribute to the cross-border dissemination of works of art. ND
2
PHASE: EUROPEAN ACOUSTIC HERITAGE IDENTIFICATION
The second phase of the project is aimed to bring together the results of the analysis of each study group and to define what would be a composition of European soundscapes and acoustic heritage, through history and through contemporary spaces and human activities.
4.
With the 4 activity the different study-work groups will be integrated in one permanent European study/work group. A meeting will take place in September 2011 with the members and the collaborators that participate in the first phase. In this meeting each member will bring the research made to define and identify together the most representative sounds and acoustic environments of Europe, based on archives and new recordings, and reached during the previous months. A second meeting will be organised at the end of this phase, in February 2012, in order to validate and review the results before the final publication.
5.
The next activity consists of a definition of the “European Acoustic Heritage”. Once the work of data and recordings compilation was made and the elements and the outlines were decided in the European group, the coorganisers will be in charge of defining the soundscapes and contents of the European Acoustic Heritage in several fields and ages, with selected technical cards for every kind of soundscapes. It would include a scientific and technical work to explain and describe the value of this sound collection to integrate an “audible picture” of the diverse and multicultural Europe.
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6.
The last activity in this Phase will be the publication of a study with the results obtained in the work carried out by the national groups and validated in the European group. The study would explain the methodology, analysed archives, fieldwork recordings and the description of the process of definition. It will show the final conclusions of selected soundscapes of Europe, bringing together sounds in urban and social environments from different places and ages of the history. It will also describe the contributions of archives, fieldwork recordings and exchange of information with other institutions, study groups and collaborators. Phonogrammarchiv and TAMK will lead this activity, with the help of the rest of the partners and study groups to provide information. It includes translation at least into English and publishing costs. The best medium is an audio book, containing digital recordings and the explanation of the soundscapes as pieces of cultural heritage. This product will be presented to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency to introduce the work carried out in the European study work and the results of our proposal of European Acoustic Heritage. RD
3 PHASE: TRAVELLING EXHIBITION
7.
This phase is aimed at creating and showing an exhibition with the representative soundscapes of Europe. The first activity will be the design of an audiovisual exhibition, which will show the “European Acoustic Heritage” and its distinctive features. AGADIC and Fundación Illa de San Simón will be in charge of the design and creation of the exhibition, with audiovisual materials that can hold the sound recordings selected, and present them in the best way to express and communicate the soundscapes to the public, so the visitors can feel the different environments across the time and through different places, and they can thus travel across the European diversity and cultural values. The exhibition contents will also be considered in the meeting of Vienna (February 2012) and will be designed based on the materials of the first two phases.
8.
The partners will search for exhibition halls in their countries as well as in other countries if possible. This activity is addressed to involve museums or exhibitions centres to hold the exhibition, so that it could be visited in several locations. Thus the exhibition will be travelling through the different countries. The first proposal for the route of the travelling exhibition is San Simón Island (Spain), Grenoble (France), Tampere (Finland), Santiago de Compostela (Spain), and if possible in Thessaly (Greece), thanks of the relation between Cresson and University of Thessaly. If it is possible, the partners will try to contact and involve more exhibition halls to show it in more locations throughout Europe.
9.
While the exhibition is being shown in the countries the members will organise and hold conferences and seminars at the museums and exhibition halls in order to disseminate and advertise the Audiovisual Exhibition. The coorganisers that participate in this activity are Fundación Illa de San Simón (ES), Laboratoire Cresson (FR), and TAMK (FI). By means of these seminars the speakers will explain the contents of the exhibition and the soundscapes shown, the research work and its results (phases 1-2). In the conference technicians of the entity as well as external experts or artists from other countries will take part. Furthermore each event involves a communication and publicity task. It will include advertising materials, such posters, flyers, press releases, etc.
10.
The last activity is addressed to publish a multimedia book to be distributed in libraries and educational centres and schools. This product is as a way to show the results of the research of Phases 1 and 2. With a less "technical" content and a more creative-artistic product it will disseminate the results and make them attractive to the general public. It is aimed at showing the audible environments and soundscapes of Europe, and at promoting cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. It will be available in the halls where the exhibition is placed and will be sent to cultural and education centres. Although the leader of the activity will be Phonogrammarchiv all the partners will contribute to disseminate it.
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4 PHASE: PEDAGOGICAL ACTIONS
11.
This phase is addressed to develop pedagogical actions with children from several of the participating countries. The first step will be the design and planning of the pedagogical actions addressed to the students from the participating countries. The lead partner in the activity is Fundación Illa de San Simón, who will suggest materials and a programme of activities that can also be carried out by the coorganisers and collaborators in France and Finland. Among the suggested activities there will be at least a guided tour, so that the groups of schoolchildren can visit the exhibition, and pedagogical actions in the streets. It includes the management and monitoring of all the pedagogical actions by the technicians of the participating partners.
12.
One of the actions addressed to the dissemination among the youngest public will be a guided tour to visit the Travelling Exhibition through the participating museums. With this activity the contents and elements of the exhibition will be explained, and the importance of the acoustic environment for the people that live in urban context will be shown. The historical dimension by means of retrospective soundscape compositions is also an innovative way of learning history. Finally, the geographical dimension will be explained and listened, with the aim of travelling “through the ears” across the borders of Europe. This action will be developed by Fundación Illa de San Simón, Laboratoire Cresson, and Tampere University of Applied Sciences, contacting education centres as collaborators for the visiting groups.
13.
The other activity addressed to children and youth are the Pedagogical actions in the streets. Based on the pedagogical actions designed by the activity 11, AGADIC will lead this action. It will subcontract a specialized artists group to develop materials and activities in the streets of Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, Grenoble and Tampere. With a high visibility it will be made at the same time than the guided tour and while the travelling exhibition is visiting the cities. It is aimed at showing in the streets near the exhibition halls some elements of the exhibition that can allow to introduce the topic for young audiences. TH
5 PHASE: TRANSFER The phase has the objective to spread to more countries the actions taken by the project.
14.
The first activity is aimed at exchanging information with other sound environment groups and European institutions. The partnership will try to involve more institutions and associations that work in the field of soundscapes and environments recording, from a multidisciplinary perspective (architecture, creativity and music composition, acoustic ecology, recording collections and archives) as a way of cultural preservation. In February 2013 AGADIC and the partners will organize a meeting with the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in Brussels to present the products developed related to the European Acoustic Heritage and to study the way of sharing and transferring them to more agents after the end of the project.
15.
The increase in the number of works of the Travelling Exhibition will be a specific activity to spread the project to more countries and institutions, and to promote the joining and visit in other European countries. The partners will use the contact and joint work with more institutions to discover more works that could be added, as a way to cooperate with some others bodies and increase the value and contents of the exhibition.
16.
In the summer of 2012 both the Laboratoire Cresson and the Tampere University of Applied Sciences will organize summer courses about the audible environments in Europe. During several days conferences and listening sessions will be organized, showing the production and research obtained in the project. Both institutions will also try to invite technicians and researchers from another countries.
Furthermore each event involves a communication and publicity task. It will include advertising materials, such posters, flyers, press releases, etc. th
6 PHASE: COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT
17.
The coordination will be supported by permanent communication between partners, and by regular meetings. In the meetings all the members of the partnership will take part, as well as collaborators if necessary, and they will often coincide with some of the project milestones. The main contents of the meetings will be the technical development of the work programme, the agreement of the methods, tasks and calendar and exchange of information in order to achieve the optimal use of resources and knowledge. The method of working will be implemented always trying to achieve the highest quality and excellence in the products, guaranteed by the experts working in the groups and the wide experience and specialization of the participating institutions.
18.
During all the life of the project the coordinator and the coorganisers will carry out the administrative tasks related to the project execution and accounting. AGADIC, as the coordinator, will also contract the services of accounting and finance control and the audit to certificate financial statements. Summary of the activities and results of the Project PHASE
1
ACTIVITY
ENTITY
OUTPUTS & RESULTS
1. Setting up of the study-work group in every participating country
AGADIC, Fund. Illa S Simon, Phonogrammarchiv, CRESSON, TAMK
4 national study/work groups
2. Analysis of the contemporary and historical soundscapes
AGADIC, Phonogrammarchiv, CRESSON, TAMK
4 fieldwork teams research
3. Web platform
AGADIC
1 web platform & 8 newsletters
4. European study-work group 2
3
4
5
5. Definition of the “European Acoustic Heritage� 6. Publication of the study with the results 7. Design of a Travelling soundscapes exhibition 8. Involvement of the museums & Starting up of a Travelling Exhibition 9. Conferences and Seminars at the museums for dissemination 10. Publication of a multimedia book 11. Design and planning of the pedagogical actions 12. Guided tour to visit the Travelling Exhibition 13. Pedagogical actions in the streets 14. Exchange with other institutions & involvement more countries 15. Increase of the number of works of the Travelling Exhibition 16. Summer courses about soundscapes
AGADIC, Fund. Illa S Simon, Phonogrammarchiv, CRESSON, TAMK Fund. Illa S Simon, Phonogrammarchiv, CRESSON, TAMK
1 European study/work group. 2 work group sessions (FR,AT) European audio-archives by categories
Phonogrammarchiv, TAMK
1 study with the results of research
AGADIC, Fund. Illa S Simon
1 Travelling Exhibition with 20 works of acoustic spaces
AGADIC, Fund. Illa S Simon, CRESSON, TAMK
Number & locations: 2 ES, 1 FR, 1 AT, 1 FI
Fund. Illa S Simon, CRESSON, TAMK
3 seminars coinciding with the exhibition, with
Phonogrammarchiv
1 published multimedia book with the registered soundscapes
AGADIC, Fund. Illa S Simon, CRESSON, TAMK Fund. Illa S Simon, CRESSON, TAMK AGADIC, Fund. Illa S Simon, CRESSON, TAMK AGADIC, Fund. Illa S Simon, Phonogrammarchiv, CRESSON, TAMK Fund. Illa S Simon, CRESSON, TAMK CRESSON, TAMK
Plan of the actions and exchange of artist Number & locations: 2 ES, 1 FR, 1 AT, 1 FI Number & locations: 2 ES, 1 FR, 1 AT, 1 FI 1 meeting with DGEC in Brussels to present and transfer products 5 works more in the Travelling Exhibition+ 2 locations more (PT, GR) 2 summer courses about the acoustic environments in Europe
Calendar and milestones 2011 ACTIVITIES Setting up of the study-work group in each 1 participant country Analysis of the contemporary and historical 2 soundscapes
2012
May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
3 Web platform European study-work 4 group starting up Definition of the “European Acoustic 5 Heritage”
Nletter
Nletter
FR
Nletter
Nletter
2013
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Nletter
Nletter
Nletter
Apr
Nletter
AT
6 Publication of the study with the results 7 Design of a Travelling soundscapes exhibition Involvement of the Museums & Starting up of a 8 Travelling Exhibition Conferences and Seminars at the Museums to 9 for dissemination
ES
FR
FI
ES
FR
FI
ES
10 Publication of a multimedia book 11 Design and planning of the pedagogical actions 12 Guided tour to visit the Travelling Exhibition 13 Pedagogical actions in the streets Exchange with other institutions & involvement 14 more countries Increase of the number of works of the 15 Travelling Exhibition
BE GR
16 Summer courses about soundscapes 17 Coordination meetings
FR/FI ES
FR
AT
FI
BE
18 Management & Monitoring
Acoustic Environment as a part of the European Cultural Heritage The project is inspired by the same objectives proposed by the European Cultural Agenda: cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue; culture as a catalyst for creativity; and culture as a key component in international relations. The different phases are focused on cultural cooperation to exchange knowledge and materials about the “audible picture of Europe”, and to search a joint definition of the most representative acoustic environments in Europe, by each dimension: •
Research in the sounds from different ages, to recover them as a part of the historical and cultural past and to show the evolution in soundscapes.
•
The audible dimension in architecture and urbanism as a part of the design and life quality in urban spaces.
•
Creation of soundscapes and acoustic environment composition, as a way to explore the artistic dimension of acoustic environments.
The method of implementation will be working as an open net, in which other institutions and collaborators interested in the topic could participate and join as a way to spread the results and contribute to the European Soundscape construction. In the design of this proposal there were already contacts with artistic groups and institutions, museums, archives and research institutions, and during the project execution these relationships will go on. So in each one of the dimensions and fields of acoustic environments and along the different phases of the project there will be a permanent and interdisciplinary exchange, beyond the direct partners and involving more bodies. The final goal is to promote the intercultural dialogue and a sense of unity among the diversity of places, supported with the European study group and a joint European Soundscapes Exhibition and more materials, which will travel throughout countries and that can be used after the project ends. With specific actions addressed to the youngest audience, the project will try to make aware and promote the sensibility for the audible dimension of European urban and social spaces, and to enhance this intangible value as a part of the culture cross history and geography.