Archiving the Sounds of German Cultures: A Century of Collection, Curation, and Creative Practice

 Archiving the Sounds of German Cultures explores how the recording and documentation of sound has shaped German cultures and their narratives from the early twentieth century to the present.

Featuring the work of ground-breaking artists and leading experts on this topic from the fields of history, media studies, music, art history, and literature, this symposium examines the practice of sound archiving not only as material preservation but also as re-formation: the use of archival sound as source material and inspiration for creative practice. This symposium has four aims: (1) to rediscover quotidian and previously marginalized sound recordings of German cultures and their histories; (2) to examine the integration, recycling, and remixing of previously recorded sounds in music, sound art, film, and performance, (3) to query how archival sounds in their varied forms can disrupt the hierarchies and power structures of institutionalized practices of sound collection and curation; and lastly (4) to discuss the future of sound archival practices and the impacts of new digital infrastructures of global circulation.

Featuring:

• Emeka Ogboh (Berlin)
• Olivia Landry (Virginia Commonwealth University)
• Carolyn Birdsall (University of Amsterdam)
• Joy Calico (University of California, Los Angeles)
• Seth Howes (University of Missouri)
• Kira Thurman (University of Michigan)
• Ela Gezen (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
• Florence Feiereisen & Erin Sassin (Middlebury College)
• Peter Davies (University of Edinburgh)
• Maria Fuchs (University of Graz)
• Hester Baer (University of Maryland)
• Claudia Breger (Columbia University)
• Lutz Koepnick (Vanderbilt University)

  Full schedule here

Since 1972 the Department of Comparative Literature & Thought's Program in Germanic Languages and Literatures has hosted an international symposium on German Language and Culture every other year.