Fleeting Voices. Preserving Acoustic Heritage in the Archives and the Arts Experimental conference
Date: October 1-3, 2025
Venue: University of Applied Arts Vienna –
Expositur Rustenschacherallee Rustenschacherallee 2–4
A–1020 Vienna
Organising institutions: Department Media Theory – University of Applied Arts Vienna, Phonogrammarchiv – Austrian Academy of Sciences, Cultural Heritage Studies – University of Vienna (Faculty Center for Transdisciplinary and Cultural Studies) supported by Support Art and Research – University of Applied Arts Vienna
Registration: https://pretix.eu/fleetingvoices/110/
Website: https://sonime.at/fleeting-voices/
Speaking, singing and using one’s voice for communication is one of the oldest cultural techniques. And hearing is one of the earliest human senses, which we actively pursue and exercise already as a foetus. Since the invention of storing and reproducing voices on sound carriers, the ephemeral level of the acoustic has taken on a materiality outside the human body. This has made it possible to keep the voice for individual and cultural memories. These techniques of saving and remembering are connected to the desire to hold on to the voice as a coveted object and to preserve it for the future. Simultaneously, they reveal the paradox of the material fixation of the ephemeral.
Fleeting Voices brings together artistic practice, materials science, media theory, art- and cultural history. We discuss the specifics of acoustic heritage, the agency of various sound carriers in archives and artworks. We focus on politics of listening, voices in colonial archives, and voices as ephemeral but highly material objects and still underestimated subjects of heritage science or art history.
Concept
Katrin Abromeit, Laura Bohnenblust, Eva Kapeller-Hallama