‘Sonic Spaces’ is organised by Dr Jennifer O’Meara in Trinity’s Department of Film (School of Creative Arts) as part of the Creative Arts Practice Research theme. This new series is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
With an increase in the popularity of audio books, podcasts and listening-focused apps in recent years, Dr Jennifer O’Meara is keen to emphasise the origins of a resurgence in the culture of listening in much older traditions of storytelling and art:
“The Sonic Spaces seminar series aims to examine the workings and creative possibilities of the contemporary audio arts. It will consider these alongside their diverse historical precursors, including the traditions of radio dramas, poetry on the radio, and operatic adaptations of literary texts.”
On November 4th, the first of the online seminars, open to the public, will explore the rise in the number of sound-focused culture productions in the performing arts in recent years. Asking how artists adapt written works into compelling listening experiences, a panel of established creative practitioners chaired by Professor Ruth Barton, Head of Trinity’s School of Creative Arts, will discuss ‘soundscapes of the performing arts’.
Dr Jennifer O’Meara is keen to emphasise the origins of a resurgence in the culture of listening in much older traditions of storytelling and art.
Evangelia Rigaki, Head of Music at Trinity College Dublin, will discuss her installation opera This Hostel Life (Irish National Opera, 2019) based on Melatu Uche Okorie’s book of the same name; Kevin Gleeson, a prominent sound designer for theatre and film, will discuss recent collaborations with Dead Centre (Hamnet, Beckett’s Room, To Be A Machine); and Nicholas Johnson, Associate Professor of Drama at Trinity and co-founder of the Samuel Beckett Laboratory, will discuss his recent dramaturgical work on Beckett’s Room, a sound-focused play and co-production of Dead Centre and Gate Theatre.
Forthcoming discussions in the series include ‘Sound & Technology’, ‘Sound & the Environment’, ‘Gendered Soundscapes’, and ‘Culture on the Radio’.
Professor Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub said that this series is “the first of its kind in Trinity and will provide an overdue examination of the importance of audio culture in our lives, not least at a time when podcasts, radio and other audio outlets provide a much-needed alternative to the dominant screen-time.”
Details on the programme are included here below. For more information on the first seminar, click here.
- November 4th (7-8pm): Soundscapes of the Performing Arts
- December 2nd (7-8pm): Sound & Technology
- February 10th (7-8pm): Sound & the Environment
- March 10th (7-8pm): Gendered Soundscapes
- April 14th (7-8pm): Culture on the Radio