Sign for a new permanent stream at Flora & Fauna Preservation Park, Chania. 2022
Over three years (2020-22), the Acoustic Commons is developing work between Full of Noises (Barrow, Cumbria - lead partner), Locus Sonus (Aix-Marseille), CONA (Ljubljana), Soundcamp (London), HMU (Crete) and Cyberforest (Tokyo).
Acoustic Commons is a collaboration between four arts organisations and a range of associate partners, each with close links to a specific site of cultural and/or natural heritage value. Acoustic Commons draws upon and develops those links, through a range of on-site and on-line exchanges.
Our previous work has included developing an interactive map of live environmental sounds; radio broadcasts following the dawn chorus around the globe; sound art residencies and sound and ecology festivals. Building on these initiatives, this collaborative project focuses on developing creative / technical resources for artists, researchers and activists working on sound projects and advocacy. They include affordable digital tools for live audio streaming, a platform for listening together with live chat, and a series of publications documenting the work of the network.
This is the third and final year of the project. Plans for 2022 include the Soundcamp festival series over the first weekend in May, and a final event in Aix-Marseille over the week beginning 10th October, in partnership with Bureau des Guides, the Ecole Supérieure d’Art of Aix-en-Provence and the Aix Digital Biennale. A final report and publication will follow.
Please see the Events page for details and full list of past events.
The Acoustic Commons network has been using live audio streaming to co-create public art projects that form bridges between localities and bring isolated communities into interaction. Listening in common to soundworlds of Europe, Japan and other places leads us to engage with environmental flows - of air, water or migrating organisms - that cross borders and point to a trans-national approach.
Acoustic Commons is dedicated to building resilient networks across sites, distributing creative technical resources and cultural know-how and contributing to the long term cultivation of knowledge commons. The project seeks to identify and reactivate common land as a site for shared cultural activity and to encourage the sharing of practices and knowledge between practitioners, organisations, the public and institutions across Europe. Through improvised networks and hybrid on-site / on-line events, and by developing low-cost, lightweight ways to amplify less heard human and other voices, we contribute to reworking and extending our ‘habits of assembly’.
The library contains writing, recordings and documentation over the life of the project.
The Acoustic Commons is a Small Cooperation Project supported in part by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.