Time and place of the lecture:
Wednesday 8 May, 4.15 pm
Room E327, Minerva 3rd floor, Sirkkala campus, Kaivokatu 12, University of Turku
Abstract:
Speaking of atmospheres evokes something palpable, something that moves us—inviting or repelling. When atmospheres speak to us—they tincture our relations to a place and the people and things that compose it. We sense and respond to an atmosphere—of a room, say, or an artwork or a garden—but even as we attend to its call, its vibe, we also sense something more. A more-than-ness. Like voice, atmospheres call out and connect. And, like voice—with voice—atmospheres “traverse distinctions between peoples, things, and spaces,” attuning us to ambiguities “between presence and absence, between subject and object/subject and between the definite and indefinite” (Anderson 2009, 77-78). Voice and atmosphere have much to say, resonating with each other. Voice alerts us to the complexities and more-than’ness of atmospheres. And, in turn, attuning to atmospheres opens up our thinking with/through voice. With new materialism, we can explore these entanglements of atmospheres and voice through engaging with a number of artworks.
Reference: Anderson, Ben. 2009. “Affective Atmospheres.” Emotion, Space and Society. 2. Pp. 77–81.
Bio:
Professor Norie Neumark is a theorist and sound/media artist. She has a collaborative art practice with Maria Miranda as www.out-of-sync.com, which began in radio, then expanded to include media art, site-responsive and unsitely installations and performances, and radiophonic essays. Their award-winning work has been commissioned and broadcast and exhibited nationally and internationally. Their earlier work engaged with questions of culture, place and memory. Recent projects, such as Waiting, Coalface and Shredded, have engaged with questions of ecology, power and ethics. Norie’s 2017 monograph, Voicetracks: Attuning to Voice in Media and the Arts (MIT Press) explores voice and new materialism. Norie co-edited Voice: Vocal Aesthetics in Digital Arts and Media (MIT Press, 2010) and At a Distance: Precursors to Internet Art and Activism (MIT Press, 2005). She is founding editor, Unlikely: Journal for Creative Arts http://unlikely.net.au
Norie is Honorary Professorial Fellow at VCA, Melbourne University and Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University. She is currently resident artist at Titanik, Turku.
This event and the event series are co-organized by:
The project Localizing Feminist New Materialisms (Academy of Finland, 2017–2021, http://femnewmat.utu.fi/)
A New Materialist Network (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2068994680007878/)
Gender Studies, University of Turku
Professor Neumark’s lecture is the second in a series of guest lectures and other events centered on new materialist thinking and research. The event is open to everyone, welcome!
