THE SONIC REWILDING OF CITIES: LISTENING AFTER LOCKDOWN (2021)
Gascia Ouzounian

Presented at ‘Crafting a Sonic Urbanism: Listening to Nonhuman Life’
Theatrum Mundi / Gaïte Lyrique, Paris
18 March 2021

The coronavirus lockdowns of 2020 triggered an unprecedented quieting of cities around the world, resulting in a rewilding of cities, and inspiring numerous artistic responses to changing sonic conditions. This talk explores the broadened spectrum of nonhuman sounds in cities which came into vivid relief during lockdown, and it considers crowdsourced sound projects and sound art works—in particular the work of Melbourne-based artist Catherine Clover—that responded to these changing conditions by proposing post-anthropocentric models of sound and listening in cities.