Architecture and the Senses – Interdisciplinary Seminar and Audiovisual Performance 12–14 October 2018
Center for Architectural Heritage Plasy – National Technical Museum, Plasy Monastery Monument
Sight is the mode of perception for the solitary observer, while hearing creates a feeling of interconnectedness and solidarity. /Juhani Pallasmaa/
Nests of birds are perfect because birds are not aware of their mortality. /Jean-Henri Fabré/
OPEN CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Acoustics – much like light, or space – in physical landscape, landscape architecture or the landscape itself, actively influences our emotional state and our way of thinking. Sound orients us in both time and space, fine-tuning our social connections, constituting a discourse which we have begun to revisit only in the last few decades. Similarly invisible as radiation or microchemical contamination, acoustic pollution is a factor with a palpable impact on the crisis-state of today’s environment, though we are inclined to underestimate its urgency, and consistently fail to develop political, social and technical tools to limit the broadly diffused impact of (acoustic) pollution.
The goal of this interdisciplinary gathering of specialists and the interested public is to foster a discussion about the relationship between architecture, art, ethology, and social and environmental issues, to focus on intersections between aesthetics, ethics, acoustics of architecture, geometry, natural science, the humanities and art.
Sacral architecture has put a great deal of emphasis on spatial acoustics, resonance of human voice or musical instrument. The acoustics of the Baroque convent of the Plasy Monastery is an exceptional example of this forgotten art. The gathering will take place in Mathey’s Hall, and is hosted by the Center for Architectural Heritage Plasy. It is open to heritage preservationists, architects, musicians, natural and humanist scientists, researchers, artists, as well as to the general public.
The framework expands the traditional understanding of the model of architecture as the sole realm intervening between the human species and its environment and strives to include an extra-human perspective, such as the architecture of animals, insects, or birds.
The evening event at the Plasy Monastery convent is being prepared by students and teachers from the Center of Audiovisual Studies at FAMU (the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), with the additional participation of the Department of Time-based Art at UJEP, Ústí nad Labem.
The event is being prepared in continuity with the launch of the Hermit Foundation Archive of the Center for Metamedia Plasy and the Soundworms Ecology Gathering of 2017, both part of the Agosto Foundations Mediateka, as well as the launch of the Czech translation of Raymond Murray Schafer’s book The New Soundscape.
The list of presenters includes architects, environmentalists, sociologist, natural scientists, artists and ecologists. A detailed program and list of confirmed participants will be announced on August 30.
Please send the proposal for your contribution until August 15th to sound@agosto-foundation.org
The capacity of the seminar is limited by the capacity of the Mathey lecture hall.
Contacts and Information
Concept: Miloš Vojtěchovský, Center of Audiovisual Studies FAMU
Contact: sound@agosto-foundation.org
+420 608 571 881
Vít Bohal
E-mail: sound@agosto-foundation.org
Radoslava Schmelzová
E-mail: rschmelzova@gmail.com
Organizer: Agosto Foundation, Vojtěšská 196/18, 110 00 Praha 1
Co-organizer: Plasy sobě z.s. association
Cooperating institutions: region of Pilsen, Národní památkový ústav, Center for Building Heritage Plasy, FAMU, Faculty of Art and Design of the J.E. Purkyně University.
This project takes place with the financial support of the region of Plzeň.