Wild Sounds

sound residency & workshop in Maajaam

Dates of the residency: 9.-17.10.2023
Residency mentor Pablo Sanz

Open Call deadline: 22.09.2023
Send your portfolio or CV and short motivation letter to: sounds@wildbits.ee

In this residency/workshop, we will explore the possibilities of environmental sound recording as a creative practice. We will approach recording as a form of attention, a tool to investigate the world and a creative act.

The landscape and sonic ecologies in/around Maajaam will be our site of focus and experimentation. We will listen and record in different environments (farmland, forests, grasslands, wetlands) day and night. We will attend to the voices and sonic expressions of non-human life, the weather and the landscape, material properties, environmental processes, human and non-human interactions, and “hidden” sounds and phenomena that are inaudible to our bare ears or usually go unnoticed.

The activities will include fieldwork, studio work, discussion, listening and presentation sessions, with a flexible schedule and room for collective and individual exchange and experimentation. We will address technical, aesthetic and critical aspects of working with environmental sound, with an overview of different methodologies, audio technologies and recording setups, practical considerations for working in situ and how to approach ideas and projects.

The workshop will cover recording equipment and types of microphones, spatial audio recording techniques such as spaced stereo, multichannel and ambisonics, less conventional listening strategies and technologies (hydrophones, contact microphones/solid vibration, parabolic reflectors, ultrasonic and electromagnetic listening), editing and audio software tools, and composition and presentation approaches.

The workshop aims to question traditional understandings of so-called “field recording”, the “soundscape”, and “natural” sound. We will consider listening as always situated, a malleable practice, and the most crucial activity in sound-making and composition. We will reflect on different listening modes and how environmental listening practices can become a form of attuning to the more-than-human.

About Pablo Sanz

Residency and workshop mentor is Pablo Sanz – an artist, composer, and researcher from Spain, Catalonia. His work includes site-specific and public art projects, immersive spatial audio installations and concerts, and compositions for headphone listening spread through exhibitions, broadcasts and releases.

Focusing on the limits and thresholds of perception and attention, his practice investigates listening, sound space, more-than-human vitality, aural energies, and otherness. He sees listening as a political act meant to resist dominant tendencies in contemporary societies and cultivate alternative forms of being and thinking. His work has been experienced internationally in diverse contexts. He has participated in multiple artistic residencies and has given talks, seminars and workshops internationally.

Pablo Sanz webpage
Pablo Sanz bandcamp

Who is welcome to apply?

Artists and other creative people based in Estonia interested in working with sound and environmental sound recording. We expect you to submit your CV or portfolio and short motivation letter with the application. 4 participants will be selected. Residency and workshop is free of charge. Accommodation in single and double rooms. Lunch and dinner and organised for the group.

The workshop/residency is best suited for people with some experience experimenting with sound and other environmental and site-specific art practices who have basic knowledge of sound recording and editing software. However, it is open to any creative practitioner interested and participants at all stages of experience. We welcome a diverse group, and there will be tailored guidance and support to accommodate everyone’s needs and expectations. Workshop is held in English.

Equipment required

Recording equipment, microphones, and accessories will be available. However, participants are encouraged to bring their portable recorder, microphones, and headphones to work autonomously.

It is suggested to bring your personal laptop with any audio editing software you are familiar with installed. We also have a shared computer available in Maajaam, so having this is not a mandatory requirement.

Post-residency presentation opportunities

After the residency, Maajam invites each participant to create a sound piece based on their experience and recordings made during the residency. The contributed works might be released in a compilation and presented in exhibitions and listening events.

Supported by

Estonian Authors’ Society, Estonian Cultural Endowment, Estonian Folk Culture Centre, SA Tartu 2024, The Embassy of Spain in Estonia

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Wild Bits is a technological art residency and exhibition programme that will culminate with a large outdoor exhibition in summer of 2024 in the hilly landscape of South Estonia. International exhibition explores the human condition in the contemporary technological society and look at points of contact between people, technology and nature. Exhibition is part of the main programme of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024.

Wild Sounds is Wild Bits side programme, which goal is to promote the creation of works based on environmental sounds and to share experiences of active listening and collaborative exploration.