The Sonic Residues festival will develop subtle and complex spaces of auditory experience, organized loosely around the theme of the remainders left by vibrations in time and space. It is concerned with sound as a medium of artistic expression that encompasses performance, sculpture, phonography, experimental notation, and installation. To this end, the festival combines a concert performance, a gallery exhibit, and provocative lectures as different mediums of access to “sonic residues.”

This call is for short form works which will be presented at the gallery on portable audio players, and available for download as .wav, .aiff, and .mp3 formats in conjunction with the exhibition. These works should take into consideration the differential specificity of these devices, and the roles that they have come to play in contemporary culture. They should consider sound as material, as something which can index space, evoke landscape, or translate history into the present.

The contemporary sonic landscape is increasingly punctuated by the singing beeps of cellular telephones and quick snips of overheard chatter. It is shaped by the aural experience of the mp3 player—the hierarchy of track listings, and the unexpected occurrences of randomization. We are constantly enveloped by sound—to such an extent that the particular textures of it often disappear, receding into what information theory might term noise. A residue draws a pattern. It can trace an evolving process, recreate an experience, or reimagine a prior event. It can weave pattern, both absent and present, into meaning.

Please send an email containing the following to sonicresidues@gmail.com by April 25th, 2008:

1. A short bio.
2. A short (100-word) project description.
3. The completed piece in mp3, aiff, or wav format. Completed work must be less than 15 minutes, and designed with portable audio players in mind.

Works will be judged by a panel of Stony Brook University professors in the Music, Art, and Computer Science departments including Christa Erickson, Zabet Patterson, Margaret Schedel and Daniel Weymouth.

Sonic Residues Festival
April 29th, 2008 – May 12th, 2008