After the successful online concert titled “Unmasking. Experimental Sonic Practices” last March, the 2nd edition of the MediSouP, titled “Healing. Listening to a Brave New World”, will take place primarily in Cyprus with the addition of two more events, one in Spain and one in Turkey. This collective initiative illustrates the expansion of our network into more Mediterranean countries, which has always been one of our objectives from the start of this endeavor. We perceive the Mediterranean as multidimensional but also a unified transcultural region, not only mapping a geographical spatial and cultural perspective but also a sonic landscape filled with many collective multi-species voices. We hope that this is only the beginning of our sonic future/s and that more partners and Mediterranean spaces and situated perspectives will be added to our transcultural “soup”.
In the wake of the post-pandemic/post-traumatic temporality, lockdowns and curfews are now imminent with the so-called “new normal” and are gaining ground in our everyday and influencing our creative practices. Humans find themselves in an uncomfortable new sociopolitical environment. There is a more obscured acousmatic awareness and agency in sonic space that is presenting itself materially as the pandemic tidal waves come and go. Society seems to attempt to (re)frame itself again and again as we struggle, through the everyday, maintaining resilience (or not) with these shifting waves of change, collectively or captured in individual isolation.
In the past year, empty streets have attempted to become lively again. Retail stores, businesses, restaurants, bars and nightlife have reopened, and the pace/rhythms of everyday life are shifting marginally in an attempt to maintain a social and auditory connection to the “old normal.” The aural energy of these places points to and evolves persistently into a new, disease-bound material context. A post-dystopian normality is now taking form–socially, visually, and sonically. The political reality of mask-wearing, social distancing, QR certificates, control of humans and their mobility; has inhibited our flow of life and the panopticon is still on, continuing to take reality amid our affected perception of space and displaced mobility.
Society is exhausted mentally and physically and still struggling. What does this everyday sonic environment sound like for the individual or collectively? Can society heal physically, mentally and psychologically from the pandemic? What does healing sound like? And how do we feel in this ongoing period of growing uncertainty? Learning to stay with the trouble of living and dying together on a damaged earth will prove more conducive to the kind of thinking that would provide the means to building more livable futures. What role does sonic matter play in this eco-philosophy?
Considering the above, artists, composers and sound practitioners have submited sound and sound-related video works which contribute to understanding and representing the dynamics of the people trying to heal.
#SoundsAgainstWar #MediSouPForUkraine #NoToWar #SoundArtWithoutBorders
