Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Listening Room 6 - Seeing the Sound




Performers:
Zbigniew Karkowski (Electronic)
Dickson Dee (Electronic)
Joao Vasco Paiva (Electronic)
Sin:Ned (Electronic & Live Visual)

Date: Jul-20, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Venue: Osage Soho (45 Canie Road, Soho, Central, Hong Kong)
Ticket price: HK$120 (includes 1 drink)

Enquiry & Reservation: info@osagegallery.com

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

718 World Listening Day - Let’s Listen




SUNDAY July 18th 2pm –
Walk for silence 2pm @ Southorn Playground, Wan Chai
Sound collectors’ sharing 3pm @ Part-of Studio Shop, G/F, 16 Sik On Street, Wan Chai
led by Sin:Ned(Dennis Wong Chung Fai), with sound collectors Jantzan Tse, Abby Wong and Tsang Sin Yu
*Dress code white tee

THURSDAY July 15th 7pm -
reading Murray Schafer’s The Soundscape – Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World (1977)
@ ACO, 1/F, Foo Tak Building, 365 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai (www.aco.hk)

~ Free and open for all who care to listen ~

“The noisy city has become deathly quiet.”
– Murray Schafer, The Soundscape – Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World (1977)

The noise level in our city keeps rising in an unpredictable rate. A 2006 research by the Chinese University of Hong Kong shows that, the noise levels of more than 90 parks in our community are much higher than the standard level (55dB) suggested by the World Health Organization. The most well known Victoria Park even reaches a noise level of 50% higher than the standard. In 2008, an Environmental Protection Department report says, “Traffic noise is a major concern which affects more than one million people.” (http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/noise/data/noise_exposure.html) Noise might even cause hearing loss, mental stress and irritation. Can we still hear our favorite sounds in this noise? What sounds are endangered?

The hazard of noise has long been identified by Canandian composer and environmentalist Murray Schafer. However, rather than championing noise abatement, he takes the positive approach: encouraging people to “clean their ears” and discover the joy of listening again. His work and call have since inspired acoustic ecology movements and artistic endeavors throughout the world. World Listening Day, also Schafer’s birthday, is a tribute to him for founding the Acoustic Ecology movement and the World Soundscape Project. On July 18, worldwide activities on listening take place to raise public awareness on our listening environment and to celebrate the creative exploration of field recording. (http://www.worldlisteningproject.org/?p=667)

soundpocket celebrates the first World Listening Day in Hong Kong with one-day event Let’s Listen – a group of active and critical listeners (university students of sound art, sound designers and engineers, artists…etc) lead a walk for silence in Wanchai, while distributing short quotations from Schafer’s book. After the walk, sonic artist Sin:Ned (Dennis Wong Chung Fai) shares with the public for the first time his private sound collection. Sin:Ned’s interests range from improvisation, sound art, experimental music, and noise art to field recordings. He says, “Collecting sound is like people collecting stamps in the old days.” Other sound collectors also share their favorite sound from their “stamp album” with Sin:Ned.

*To know more about Schafer’s works, please join us at the reading group prior to World Listening Day. All are welcome. Registration required on or before July 13, 2010.
Murray Schafer - La Semaine du Son 2010 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX9VzICmKpA&feature=related


“The essence of sound is felt in both motion and silence; it passes from existent to nonexistent.”
– Murray Schafer, The Soundscape – Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World (1977)

What we can all do on 718 World Listening Day:

- treat our ears as if they are your greatest treasure

- participate in Let’s Listen and spend time with a group of active listeners

- put our earphones aside for one minute, one hour, one day; listen to the sound around

- speak less to listen more

- listen to stories from an elderly person: everyone has a right to be listened to

- listen again to what we habitually do; notice the quality and texture of the sound

- make a list of favorite sound (or least favorite ones)

- allow ourselves 5 minutes to do nothing but listening

*Let us know what you will do on World Listening Day with us: listen@soundpocket.org.hk

Enquiry: listen@soundpocket.org.hk OR 96021229/ 23562226 - Ms. Susie Law



718世界聆聽日﹣《聽甚麼?》
為寧靜漫步+集聲者分享

星期日 七月十八日 下午二時
為寧靜漫步 下午二時於灣仔修頓球場出發
集聲者分享 下午三時於灣仔適安街十六號地下 Part-of Studio Shop
分享嘉賓:Sin:Ned(黃仲輝)、謝振聲、黃美鴻、曾倩瑜
大會衣著: 白色衣服

星期四 七月十五日 晚上七時
讀書會 導讀 Murray Schafer 著作 The Soundscape – Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World (1977)
於灣仔軒尼詩道365號富德樓一樓藝鵠 (書本現於藝鵠有售, 詳情請參閱www.aco.hk)

*費用全免 歡迎任何關注聆聽人士參與!

「嘈吵的城市都變得死寂起來。」
﹣ Murray Schafer, The Soundscape – Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World (1977)

生活在亞洲國際都會,我們每天置身於人多車多的鬧市,飽受繁忙擠塞的交通帶來的噪音干擾。2008年,環境保護署(http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/noise/data/noise_exposure.html ) 一項研究指出香港現時的交通噪音問題滋擾超過一百萬名市民, 而建築工程、通風系統 、 防盜警鐘及鄰里所發出不同程度砰砰、轟轟或刺耳的噪音亦影響著市民的生活。休憩公園的情況會較為理想嗎?事實上,香港中文大學2006年一項研究發現,本地有90多個市區公園噪音水平極高,全部超出世界衛生組織建議的55分貝標准,其中最為人熟悉維多利亞公園的平均噪音更達到81分貝,令人有如置身繁忙的高速公路。我們的耳朵能逃得過噪音嗎?噪音會否一一蓋過那些我們喜愛的聲音?又有甚麼聲音將瀕臨絕種?

加拿大作曲家、教育家、作者及環境保護者 Murray Schafer早在四十年前已經提出噪音對人的危害。他並不是提倡控制噪音,反而採取正面態度, 鼓勵大家打開耳朵,發掘再次聆聽的樂趣。七月十八日是世界聆聽日, 旨於提升大眾對環境聲音的關注及使用地境錄音(field-recording)的創意,同時鼓勵推行聲境教育及實踐。世界聆聽日為Murray Schafer的出生日,以表示對這位聲境研究的先鋒者的尊重。他於七十年代發表書本 The Soundscape – Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World (1977),分享他對聲態學研究作出的種種判斷。他亦為 World Soundscape Project的創辦人,啟發了世界各地很多聲態學活動(http://www.sfu.ca/~truax/wsp.html)。

為嚮應世界聆聽日,聲音掏腰包(soundpocket) 首度在本港舉辦《聽甚麼?》﹣為寧靜漫步及集聲者(包括聲音藝術家、大學生、聲音設計和工程師等)的分享會。漫步由修頓球場開始,途中向公眾免費派發 Murray Schafer 的聆聽啟示,穿梭皇后大道東至灣仔適安街為終點。隨後,聲音藝術家 Sin:Ned (黃仲輝) 分享他多年來個人珍藏的聲音,他認為「收集聲音就如我們以前喜愛集郵一樣」。另外幾位集聲者亦會跟大家分享他們「集郵簿」內的獨特聲音,他們喜愛集聲只因他們都同樣熱衷於聆聽。

*想了解更多Murray Schafer 的著作,歡迎參與七月十五日讀書會,由聲音掏腰包創辦人楊陽博士導讀 。參與人士需於七月十三日前報名。
Murray Schafer - La Semaine du Son 2010 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX9VzICmKpA&feature=related

嚮應718世界聆聽日,我們可以:

﹣好好善待耳朵,待她如瑰寶
﹣來參與《聽甚麼?》,認識一群熱衷於聆聽的人
﹣放下耳機一會,一小時,一天,聆聽身邊的聲音
﹣少說話,多聆聽
﹣傾聽長者的故事
﹣嘗試仔細留意聲音的質感
﹣在車廂內減少使用電話
﹣列出最喜愛(或討厭)的聲音
﹣花五分鐘,除了聆聽之外甚麼也不做

*歡迎電郵至 listen@soundpocket.org.hk 告訴我們閣下如何嚮應718世界聆聽日

查詢:listen@soundpocket.org.hk/96021229 (羅小姐)