Ultima Extra - The Art of Assembly XXVI: Impacts of Sound

With Brandon LaBelle, Fabio Cervi, Xenia Koghilaki & Atiyyah Khan
Hosted by Florian Malzacher

Acoustic spaces play a part in defining borders and creating communities. While they fundamentally influence the shaping of public space, their ideological underpinnings, power structures and implications are often unacknowledged. The 26th edition of talk series The Art of Assembly investigates how reconfiguring sonic environments and practices might lead to new modes of listening and the questioning of cultural hegemonies.

Sound theorist Brandon LaBelle engages notions of social equality and acoustic justice, pointing out ways in which listening norms and conventions affect community-building and social participation.

Architect and musician Fabio Cervi discusses his work as assistant audio investigator at Earshot, an agency founded by artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Earshot conducts sonic investigations for communities affected by corporate, state, and environmental injustice.

Xenia Koghilaki examines crowd rituals and intensity in concerts and other musical situations, exploring collective movement as a means of resistance.

Arts journalist and DJ Atiyyah Khan digs up lost histories of how South African jazz musicians mobilised communities and unconventional venues during apartheid, creating spaces of political resistance and joy.

The event concludes with a musical set by Atiyyah Khan responding to issues addressed in her talk. The bar will be open.

This event is filmed and streamed live. It will also be published on art-of-assembly.net afterwards.

The Art of Assembly is a nomadic series of talks and conversations exploring the potential of assembly in activism, art and politics, curated and hosted by Florian Malzacher. Previous guests include Claire Bishop, Tania Bruguera, Judith Butler, Phil Collins, Jodi Dean, Radha D’Souza, Didier Eribon, Edit Kaldor, Oliver Marchart, Renzo Martens, Chantal Mouffe, Antonio Negri, Ahmet Ögüt, Milo Rau, Jonas Staal, Nora Sternfeld, Lotte van den Berg, Dana Yahalomi and many more.

All events are streamed live at art-of-assembly.net. All previous posts, podcasts and videos can be found at art-of-assembly.net.