Initiatives and projects
This dossier is a directory of the main websites on initiatives, projects, institutions, research groups and other bodies linked to soundscapes in Catalonia, Spain and the rest of the world.
Catalonia
Barceloneta Sonora is a participative artistic and anthropological research project into the sounds in the Barceloneta district. The project culminates with a sound map of the Barceloneta district as part of the Freesound projects.
This blog belongs to the journalist, Albert Murillo, who records sounds from daily life and nature, amongst others.
“Sound Maps of Nature” is a project which counts on the support of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) that aims to promote knowledge and interest among secondary school and sixth form college students about the natural environment and technology through working with sound. The first experience was creating a sound map of the Delta of the River Llobregat.
Project of the students of 3rd of ESO of the school Pia d'Olot, the result has been a sound tour by the city of Olot.
Catalonia
The Laboratory of Applied Acoustics at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) has a research project on cetacean sound emissions and the effects of noise pollution on the marine environment.
Europe
This is the website of a European project whose objective is to discover both the continent''s soundscapes and also research which sounds create experiences and generate memories of a given place. The research has led to an exhibit, a book and seminars, amongst other work.
This project consists of the research and production of a guide to the city of Tallinn from the aural point of view. Created by an interdisciplinary group (anthropologists, architects, urban planners and artists), the initial phase consists of research into the sound qualities of the urban environment, including its spaces, flows, characteristics and cultural life.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) has joined the Noise Abatement Societies in the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom to create awareness about the impact of noise on health and to award European initiatives that can help to reduce noise pollution.
Finland
Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology initiative to select the one hundred most representative soundscapes of Finland and to examine the sound imagery of the Finish population.
France
Sound artist Cédric Peyronnet's blog charts work in progress on his project to map the soundscape of the River Taurion (France), with downloadable audio extracts from the recording sessions.
Germany
Interdisciplinary forum on the relationships between sound and space, and the communication properties of sound for innovatory practices in architecture and urbanism. The project came out of the exhibition of the same name held in Berlin in summer 2008.
Portugal
Control and recording work of sound territories, in particular those that are considered historical, those that have changes in their acoustic space through erosion and urban renewal of the previous urban space and finally, those that are undergoing a process of radical change.
Sweden
A combination of artists, architects, musicians, dancers and researchers explore the environment and the urban situations composing and re-composing their rhythms and resonance. The artistic interventions start with the everyday experience of a trip, a place or a stroll, immersed in the common situation of the passers-by and the citizens.
Switzerland
Series of radio programmes transmitted by Swiss radio station Rete Due between 2006 and 2007 on the relationship between human beings and our world of sounds. The website contains the audio version of the programme as well as additional texts on the subjects discussed.
United Kingdom
The BBC World Service website has a mini-series of two documentaries on soundscapes and acoustic ecology transmitted in July 2009, as well as an interactive world map designed to store sounds in danger of disappearing.
British education project encouraging pupils to become aware of their sound environment by creating sonic Internet postcards to exchange with their classmates or with students from other schools.
International
Archive that has 50,000 recordings with associated documentation of large collections of unique sounds from all over the world and which covers the entire range of recorded sound: music, plays and literature, oral history, wildlife and environmental sounds.
The Bioacoustic Applications Laboratory of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia is leading an international programme called “Listening to the Deep Ocean Environment (LIDO)” to apply and understand the techniques developed for the passive acoustic surveillance of resources.
Yoshiaki Nishimura, director of the Japanese firm Living World, collected sounds on his journeys around the world and pinpointed them on a map. The sound archives have also been published on CD: Travelling with Sounds.
Open-source application for cultivating urban sound gardens, based on the paradigm for augmented reality. Using a WiFi-enabled device, participants can plant a sound in a given position, overlaying a virtual soundscape onto a specific urban space.
The project started with the idea of creating a new kind of map of the city of Gothenburg (Sweden), but it is currently being extended to places and cities all over the world.
The Science Museum of Minnesota (USA) travelling exhibition aims to provide a fun, interactive way of exploring the properties of the sound environment. Website visitors can play with soundscape by combining and editing different sounds.
United States
Collaborative website designed to show unique audio portraits of Chicago and to reflect on what the inhabitants of Chicago think about the soundscape of their city.
Spain
Andalusia
An online project that aims, by means of listening, to be a vehicle of knowledge, stimulation, dissemination and rediscovery of the Andalusian autonomous community, its environment and the complex structure of social relations in it, using the network as a means and space to generate, host and disseminate knowledge.
Personal website of the sound artist, Antonio Caba, with sound creations, maps and sound landscapes, etc.
Educational project by the government of Andalucía to encourage student awareness through active listening to their sound environment, and to publish information on problems caused by noise pollution.
Canary Islands
Website with the results of Santiago Rodríguez' ethnographical research on the cowbells used by shepherds on Gran Canaria Island. The cultural heritage of cowbells includes dimensions of sound and craftwork, but is unfortunately in danger of extinction.
Madrid
Papers from the Ibero-American Soundscape Congress. The congress was a forum for specialists from different countries and academic fields, as well as interested members of the public, to exchange ideas, experiences and methods.
A project that arose from the netlabel philosophy, it aims to give the city sound and artistic meaning. By means of strategies including sound art, experimental music, geo-localisation and collective creation.