Sounding the Anthropocene: A One-Day Symposium

Please join us for a day of discussion on March 11, 2016.

University of Alberta, Arts-Based Research Studio (Education North 4-104)

Although the topic of the “Anthropocene” has become increasingly popular in both academic and public spheres, there remains a certain blindness to the ways in which our all-too-human regimes of representation have come to limit the ability to respond to the pressing issues facing the human species today. Such anthropocentric “blind spots” operate through the assumption that humans are at the height of the natural evolutionary progression of life, in turn producing hierarchies between different lifeforms, while also legitimizing attitudes of exploitation and profiteering of those non-human entities with whom we share the planet. This anthropocentric bias is difficult to point to, let alone question, precisely because such a bias often manifests itself in silence. It is within this site of silence, this hushed impasse, where we hope to make some noise. “Sounding the Anthropocene” is a one-day Symposium that will investigate both the material and conceptual attributes of sound — those reverberating, nonsignifying vibrations — as a mode for thinking the “Anthropocene” anew. The Symposium will include sessions with a diverse range of thinkers whose work with sound resonates through a variety of fields including musicology, education, art and performance, science fiction studies, and philosophy.

Schedule (Click the Links for Full Session Descriptions)

9:00-9:15 | Welcome

9:15-10:30 | Session 1: “In|human Rhythms” with Bernd Herzogenrath

11:00 – 12:30 | Session 2: “Sound Without Organs” with Jessie Beier and Jason Wallin

12:30-1:30  | LUNCH 

1:30-3:30 | Session 3: “Soundscape Interventions” with Scott Smallwood

 2:30-3:30 | Session 4: “The Meaning of Treedom: Mass Extinction and the Silent Things” with Sha LaBare

4:00-5:30 | SPECIAL SESSION: “All Things Considered: Immanence, Ecology and Education” with Distinguished Visiting Professor Dr. Hanjo Berressem   

5:30- 8:00 Closing Reception