Join VacuaMoenia for World Listening Day

Our Sicilian friends over at VacuaMoenia are holding an open call for sounds as part of World Listening Day on 18 July.

World Listening Day is an annual chance to celebrate acoustic environments and the practice of listening around the world. The date comes from the birthday of Canadian writer R. Murray Schafer, author of The Tuning of the World, which inspired a new field of research known as acoustic ecology.

VacuaMoenia are looking for sounds from ‘abandoned soundscapes’ around the world, and will compile the best recordings on a compilation that will kick off a series of digital publications from them.

There are no limitations for topics, but  only field recordings are admitted (environmental sounds, found sounds, out-of-the-studio stuff, both nature and urban).

Inspiration is provided by a series of open questions outlining this year’s theme from the World Listening Project:

• How do you make yourself heard by others?
• How do you listen and what do you hear when you want to be unseen?
• How might the sounds you produce adapt to your nearby environment?
• What might a “listening ethic” be?
• How might such an ethic apply particularly to understanding the relationship between
humans and other living creatures?

The deadline is 13 July, and the entry form is here – get going!

You can also hear VacuaMoenia’s Sicilian rainstorm recording here on Cities and Memory.