Monday, March 18, 2013

New soundscape project following the tracks and traditions of Soundscapes and Cultural Sustainability has started


Silence and Listening as Resources of Tourism Expertise in North Karelia

Soundscape researchers’ project aims to develop the silence of North Karelia into a tourism asset. The scenic beauty and sparse population of the region offer good opportunities to experience silence. Silence does not mean a total lack of sounds but a possibility to relax – alone or in a group.
The project deals with the earlier presented entry about “the modern wilderness” and creates more precise contents to it. The idea of emphasising attraction, well-being and aesthetic quality of the environment that is close to nature now expands to practices in tourism business. By examining the tourism business, the project will explore the challenges and possibilities of preserving the silence of different areas in North Karelia as well. Especially consideration of silence and soundscape, as well as active listening, can be used as concrete tools in tourism by utilizing methods and experience of Soundscape Studies.
The project has a network of silence-based tourism, which now includes approximately twenty companies from Ilomantsi, Joensuu, Lieksa, Nurmes, and Valtimo area. The project develops services, in which silence is a natural part of the service, for tourism companies, entrepreneurs and local societies, considering their individual starting points. During the year-long preparations, many of the entrepreneurs in the project have already been looking for new ways to develop contents of silence services. Concrete ways of service are emphasised in workshops that are run by experts.
The aim of the project is still to start off the promotion of nature and culture tourism in North Karelia on a good start, and thus to increase the attraction of the area. The aim is to improve and redevelop the contents of service businesses by supporting immaterial services and livelihoods of the area. Silence and experiences in an acoustic environment cannot be given or sold as ready-made commodities. It is, however, possible to offer services and time in a special, nuanced, and silent environment instead. This way, the project and North Karelia for their part answer to the rising trends of “slow tourism” and ecotourism.
The project utilizes the knowledge of soundscape experts at the University of Eastern Finland and their long experience in Cultural and Soundscape Studies and in listening of acoustic elements of the environment. The director of the project is Helmi Järviluoma-Mäkelä, an expert of Soundscape Studies. The project manager is the designer of the project, Noora Vikman, who has long been interested especially in the phenomena of silent environment and its possibilities. The project also involves a group of postgraduates in Cultural Studies at the University of Eastern Finland, who are interested in the acoustic environment.
The two-year project, in 2013-2014, is financed by the ELY Centre of North Karelia (Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment)
Please contact and inform about related efforts around the world:
Dr. Noora Vikman, noora.vikman@uef.fi or Professor Helmi Järviluoma-Mäkelä, helmi.jarviluoma@uef.fi

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

SoCS in Nanjing

Director of the Soundscapes and Cultural Sustainability project,

professor Helmi Järviluoma Mäkelä

will give a lecture “European Acoustic Environments in Change’

at Nanjing University, Chinese-Nordic Cultural Centre, China

on 14.05.2012. Welcome!

 

 

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Talk at the Sound Practice Research Forum

We've been kindly invited to give a talk on our project at the Sound Practice Research Forum at Goldsmiths College, London.
****
Thursday 15th March, 12.30pm – 2pm.
Goldsmiths, University of London
Venue
BPB 3/4 Ben Pimlott Building.

Dr Heikki Uimonen from the University of Tampere and Meri Kyto from the University of Eastern Finland and currently a Visiting Researcher in Goldsmiths Music Department will discuss their experiences of Acoustic Environments in Change (AEC) and the Five Village Soundscapes project.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

International Workshop MILSON (16-17 février 2012) : Pour une anthropologie des milieux sonores II

POUR UNE ANTHROPOLOGIE
DES MILIEUX SONORES II


Journées d'études internationales 16 et 17 février 2012 organisées par le collectif MILSON, avec le soutien de la Fondation Fyssen


For an Anthropology of Sound Milieux
International Workshop, February 16th-17th 2012
, organised by the research team MILSON with the support of the Fyssen Foundation

Le 16 Février : CNRS/FMSH. Bâtiment Le France (6ème étage, Salle 638-40, 190 avenue de France, 75628 Paris Cedex 13). M° Quai de la Gare (ligne 6)
Le 17 Février : Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (Amphi I des Loges). 14, rue Bonaparte. 75006 Paris. M° St-Germain-des-Prés (ligne 4)
Le collectif MILSON propose de dresser un état des lieux des problématiques et méthodes utilisées dans différents champs disciplinaires (architecture, sciences humaines et sociales, arts, acoustique, entre autres) pour étudier ou expérimenter les environnements sonores dans leur contexte de production et de perception. Après une première rencontre organisée en mai 2011, nous poursuivrons dans cette seconde édition l'exploration du sonore ambiant en cherchant à identifier ses enjeux anthropologiques. Sur la base d'enquêtes ethnographiques, et en s'appuyant sur les acquis des disciplines voisines, ces journées d'étude mettront en lumière différents milieux sonores (quartiers, marchés, campagnes, temples, gares, places, etc.) issus de divers espaces culturels : Inde, Portugal, Italie, Ethiopie, Roumanie, Ecosse, Egypte, France, Japon. Les présentations apporteront une étude approfondie des formes et dynamiques des environnements sonores, ainsi que du contexte religieux et socio-culturel qui en font des espaces perçus et vécus. Chercheurs et artistes discuteront des aspects cognitifs et sociaux des milieux sonores en termes de sens, de catégorisation, d'efficacité et de normalisation.
MILSON is a research team dedicated to the discussion of the problematics and methods used in different disciplines (architecture, social sciences, arts, acoustic etc.) to study or experiment sound environments. Our first meeting took place in may 2011. In this second edition, we will continue to explore the questions at stake in the anthropological study of ambient sounds. Based on ethnographic cases, and taking into account the perspectives of different disciplines, the workshop will give a deeper insight of sensory environments in different cultural contexts (India, Portugal, Italy, Ethiopia, Romania, Scotland, Egypt, France and Japan). Presentations will focus on the shapes and dynamics of these environments (neighborhoods, markets, countrysides, temples, stations, places etc.). Researchers and artists will discuss the cognitive aspects of sound milieux in relation to their social settings in terms of meaning, categorisation, efficiency and normalisation.


Avec / With
Tripta Chandola, Anne Damon, Christine Guillebaud, Pierre Manea, Vincent Battesti, Victor A. Stoichita, Jean-Charles Depaule, Vincent Rioux, Heikki Uimonen, Olivier Féraud, Iñigo Sánchez, Claire Guiu.


Programme détaillé : voir le site milson.fr /  Detailed program : see website milson.fr

Monday, January 23, 2012

Radio: Suomalainen äänimaisema - Finnish soundscape

Suomalainen äänimaisema

Radio Suomi, teemaillan keskustelu

Millainen on suomalainen äänimaisema? Onko se kesäpäivä Kangasalla, talvisen metsän hiljaisuus vai jäähallin yleisön pauhu? Millaiset äänimaisemat herättävät meissä muistoja? Millainen on tulevaisuuden äänimaisema? Suorassa lähetyksessä äänimaisemista keskustelevat ja niitä kuuntelevat phttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrofessori http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifHelmi Järviluoma-Mäkelä ja tutkijatohtori Heikki Uimonen. Toimittajana Jukka Mikkola.

Soundscape evening

A discussion and an interactive radio program about Finnish soundscapes in Radio Suomi with professor Helmi Järviluoma-Mäkelä ja adjunct professor, researcher Heikki Uimonen. Radio journalist: Jukka Mikkola, 17th of January 2012.

Kuuntele - listen:

http://areena.yle.fi/audio/1326824391373

Sunday, January 8, 2012

"Kuultavaa maisemaa" radio interview

Noora Vikmanin haastattelu Aspekti-ohjelmassa, toimittaja Anne Heikkinen
Lähetetty Yle puhe -kanavalla 01.01.2012

Noora Vikman interviewed in Aspekti-programme by Anne Heikkinen
Broadcast in Yle puhe 01.01.2012

http://www.kantti.net/artikkeli/2011/12/kuultavaa-maisemaa

Soundscape commentary by Noora Vikman

LISTENING TO THE SOUNDSCAPE OF CEMBRA VILLAGE

Cembra TV
May 2010

https://youtu.be/7JtrQ4RJ8ks

An interview in Italian
Una intervista in italiano
Haastattelu italiaksi