Poetry And/As Sound Art

Ebba Bohlin, Entendre, 2014

Questions speakers will address include,

1. What is the relationship between rhythm in poetry and the material physical body?

2. Can the sound of words in performed poetry and/or sound art convey emotions distinct from their conventional meanings and, if so, why and how does that matter?

3. How can the auditory aspects of poetry and sound art bridge the gap between different artistic disciplines, such as music and literature?

4. What is the role of recording technologies in shaping the form and reception of a given poem or sound art work?

5. In what ways do interdisciplinary collaborations between poets and sound artists contribute to innovative and transformative experiences for both creators and audiences?

We will investigate how the musicality of language contributes to the sonic experience of poetry, including the examination of rhyme, meter, and cadence of verse, as well as the ways audio technologies have influenced poetic development and reception. We aim to showcase how sound in poetry and sound art can be a conduit for cross-cultural dialogue, fostering a deeper understanding of diverse artistic, linguistic and literary traditions. We will also provide a platform for poets and sound artists to share their interpretations of how sound infuses life into their work, further enriching our understanding of the medium.

Registration (limited number of spaces so only register if you absolut certain you could come)

List of contributors and titles of papers (everyone below is affiliated with Uppsala University unless otherwise noted)

1. Jacek Smolicki, independent artist, “Discord, MA” (an installation that employs field recordings and poetry to articulate the historical and present soundscapes of Walden Pond and its vicinity).

2. Andrea Petitt (Center for Gender Research) and Susan Wardell (Centre for Creative Ethnography, University of Otago, New Zealand), “Sounded Subjectivities: translating human and non-human languages into the body, through sound”

3. Dan McIntyre (English), “Style, structure and tone in ‘Swansong’”

4. Paula Henrikson (Literature), “Entropy and nonsense: The workings of sound in Gunnar Ekelöf’s ‘Perpetuum mobile’”

5. Christina Kullberg (Modern Languages), “Notes for a Sonic Ecopoetics”

6. Daniel Kane and Mike Sappol, on-stage interview about Sappol’s poetry radio shows in New York City, 1970s

7. Jesper Olsen (Department of Literature and Rhetoric), “Sonic Time Machine: Poetry on the Phonograph”

8. Torsten Pettersson (Department of Literature and Rhetoric) Mesmerism: Transrational Effects of Sound in Poetry

9. Marko Pajevic (Modern Languages), “Embodied Language: Aspects of Poetry as Sound Art based on Henri Meschonnic’s Theory of Rhythm”

10. Anna Hallberg, poet and writer, reading from and discussing from her friction poems, The S-Suite, and Ljusgrönt och aska

11. Elliot C. Mason (English), “No-Body’s Poetry”

12. Fanny Wendt Höjer (Center for Gender Research) Sound and/as poetics in contemporary, experimental prose

13. Greg Darwin (English) and Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin (Independent Artist)

Chomh dearg le fearg le leabhar Mao Tse Tung - Slam, sean-nós, and radical language politics in the works of Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin

14. Ebba Bohlin Ebba Bohlin, conceptual artist, b. 1976 in Stockholm (www.ebbabohlin.se). Bohlin will read as well as release new text work: BRIST on the occasion of the symposium.