ISSTA 2018 – Who’s Listening? Sound and Public Space
Irish Sound, Science and Technology Association annual conference
Ulster University, Magee campus
Derry, Northern Ireland
November 9th and 10th 2018

Keynotes:

Dr Salomé Voegelin (Listening Across Disciplines group, author of Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art, Reader in Sound Art at the University of the Arts, London)
Prof. Anna Barney (Listening Across disciplines group, Professor of Biomedical Acoustic Engineering at Southampton University)

Contemporary urban society is a contested space. Commerce generates a flurry of signage and advertising jingles. Industry excavates and accumulates, building uniform structures of concrete and steel, and throughout all is the traffic of daily ritual, the friction of tires on tarmacadam. Commercial interests and planners often distill this heterogeneous field down to simplified brands, cultural signifiers designed to encourage investors. What room is left in this complex of power and policy for community? Where is public space and what role can it play in contemporary life? How can sound, in particular, interrogate the urban matrix?

In 2018, ISSTA returns to Derry to explore these issues, relationships and tensions. With the spatial definition provided by its historic walled city and cross–border hinterland, the resonances of its civil rights movement (of which 2018 marks the fiftieth anniversary), its historic conflicts and diverse musical and sonic cultures, from traditional music sessions to marches, we hope that Derry will provide a thought–provoking setting which will support fruitful discussion, debate and listening!

We would particularly welcome contributions relating to sound and urban studies, auditory architecture and design, sonic archaeology and sonic heritage, psychogeography, place-making, activism, soundscape studies, and sound’s relationships with anthropology and human geography, alongside more general topics relating to music technologies, sound art, electronic and experimental music performance and composition.

SUBMISSION

Submission deadline is extended to May 29th; (midnight Irish and UK time).

Submission is via the Easychair system.
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=isstasoundconf2018

The call is open to all practitioners and researchers regardless of nationality. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation. Registration for ISSTA 2018 is required for participation.

We aim to provide review notification by July 3rd.

CATEGORIES

We welcome PAPERS which engage with the conference themes, or relate to ISSTA subject matter, including:

Acoustic Ecology
Circuit Bending
Computational Musicology
Computer Music
Digital Audio, Digital Signal Processing, Sound Diffusion and Sound Synthesis
DJ Practices
Electroacoustic Music
History of Sound, Science and Technology
Interfaces for Music or Sound
Laptop Music and Live Electronics
Music/Audio software
Sound Art and Media Art with a Sonic Focus 
Soundscape Art/Studies
Sound, Science and Technology Education/Pedagogy

Submission is by abstract (up to 500 words).

Paper proposals are reviewed double–blind. ISSTA’s working language is English.

MUSIC AND SOUND ART
Soundscape practices
Circuit Bending
Electronic Music and Computer Music
DJ/Scratch Music
Electroacoustic Composition – fixed-medium or real-time
Laptop Performance
Sound installations (headphone-based or video–with–headphones)

Technical requirements: we anticipate being able to facilitate stereo or multichannel (8-channel spatial audio) performances or fixed-media compositions, but are not able to facilitate setups requiring a large numbers of performers or full bands.

On this occasion, we are only able to accommodate headphone-based installation pieces (though these may include video).

We aim to review music submissions using double-blind methods as far as is practicable, but we appreciate that some support materials or weblinks will often reveal identifying information.

REGISTRATION

Early-bird Full fee (professional): €40 (until 14th September 2018)
Early-bird Independent artist/student/unwaged/irregular income: €20 (until 14th September 2018)

Full fee (professional): €50
Independent artist/student/unwaged/irregular income: €25

ISSTA is a subscriber–funded organisation and is not in receipt of state funding and we regret that we are not in a position to pay artists’ fees or make contributions to travel expenses at this time, though we are working to source external support which may contribute to the coverage of expenses for presenting artists who are based in Ireland. Details will be updated via the ISSTA webpage.