Through Sounds
Sound brings people together, creating communities and spaces where new subcultures can develop. Through Sounds is a long-term research project that looks at this ‘sonic culture’ as a field for spatial and social design. Where people listen is connected to different structures – physical, social, political and socio-economic. We call them ‘listening infrastructures’. Looking at them helps us to understand where and how we access sound, and how we meet and form communities through it.
Music brings together new and existing communities, whether on the dance floor or online in a forum where audio files are shared. However, such sound-based subcultures are fragile in the context of the wider society — often developing in the grey area between what is legal and what is not. It spans legal frameworks of event permits, music piracy and copyright laws.
The places where we listen can be physical, in a concert hall, at a rave, on the street through a boom box, or virtual—through CDs, MP3s, or digital streaming platforms. The contemporary urban context poses various challenges to the spatial reality of sound culture, for example by scarce venue and event permits, rising rents and restrictive policies legislation. These conditions push sonic subcultures to rely more on temporary, often fragile gathering spaces, as well as an increasing intertwinement with the digital sphere.
Through Sounds focuses on four areas of sound culture that are both influenced by and shape these listening infrastructures. The four elements are: the publication, archiving and distribution of sound; the communities and subcultures that emerge around sound; sonic textures, such as bootlegs, genres, and remixes; and the places where all this takes place, both physical and digital.
The exploration of sonic cultures can provide insights for finding alternative ways of designing society. Sonic cultures challenge us to think about the creation of space and the composition of infrastructures in new ways. How can this be implemented in alternative systems of social design? How can sonic culture expand our ideas about space, independence and autonomy, encouraging new ways of communicating and even new communities?
The project consist of research sessions, collaborations, conversations, radio shows, events and more. In 2024, Through Sounds hosted a listening session and conversation at Rewire Festival in The Hague, as well as a radio show at Rotterdam's independent Operator Radio.
