Event overview
Join us for the Goldsmiths Press launch of Brandon Labelle's new book, Sonic Agency: Sound & Emergent Forms of Resistance. We'll also be launching the Meta Gesture Music CD.
The book and CD are published by Goldsmiths Press, with book distribution by MIT Press, and CD/online music distribution in partnership with NX Records and Accidental Records. It will take place between The Word bookshop and the Out of the Brew cafe down the street. Brandon will introduce the book and give us a special performance at Out of the Brew.
Brandon will introduce the book and give us a special performance. Atau Tanaka will introduce the CD and present artists from the CD, including Dane Law, Ewa Justka, Tom Richards, and xname, in performance on the EAVI sound system. The Word will have special launch prices on both items.
About the book
In a world dominated by the visual, could contemporary resistance be auditory? Sonic Agency highlights sound’s invisible, disruptive, and affective qualities, and asks whether the unseen nature of sound can support a political transformation. In this timely and important book, author Brandon LaBelle sets out to engage contemporary social and political crises by way of sonic thought and imagination.
He divides sound’s functions into four figures of resistance – the invisible, the overheard, the itinerant and the weak – and argues for their role in creating alternative “unlikely publics” in which to foster mutuality and dissent. He highlights existing sonic cultures and social initiatives that utilize or deploy sound and listening to address conflict, and points to their work as models for a wider movement. By examining the experience of listening and being heard, LaBelle illuminates a path from the margins toward hope, citizenship, and vibrancy. When the current climate has left many feeling they have lost their voice, it may be sound itself which restores it to them.
About the CD
Meta Gesture Music is an anthology featuring musicians who crossed paths during Meta Gesture Music, a European research project which ran between 2012–17 at Goldsmiths, exploring gesture in musical performance and the engagement of the human body with sound.
The compilation includes tracks by Atau Tanaka, both solo and in duet with composer/pianist Sarah Nicolls, Tom Richards performing on his Mini-Oramics light-sound instrument, Kaffe Matthews making music with sharks in the sea, xname amplifying electromagnetic fields, Laetitia Sonami performing on her Spring Spyre, Leafcutter John, Renick Bell & Steph Horak, Dane Law, and Ewa Justka.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 1 May 2018 | 6:30pm - 9:30pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
