20/11/2025
gathering
Acoustemological Seminar: Earth
Elisabeth Povinelli, Mariana Berezovska; moderated by Antoni Michnik
- Acoustemology, a concept introduced by American ethnomusicologist Steven Feld, posits that sound is not only a sensory experience but also a mode of knowing and experiencing the world. It opens up a deeper understanding of reality, enabling us to orient ourselves within it and continually redefine our relationship with the environment – even prompting us to question the very division into us and the world.
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- This approach is one of the principal inspirations behind the CCA’s music programme and explains the role of its discursive component – seminars, lectures and discussions. Their aim is to reveal the broader context of the events and the soundscape of the Castle, to subject them to critical reflection and to highlight their significance within a wider humanistic perspective, including political science and anthropology. We invite you to join us for conversation and reflection.
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- The first seminar will be devoted to the earth and its sounds. It will focus on both audible and inaudible phenomena, as well as on the acoustics that the earth produces or dampens. It will also address the question of whether the earth can listen – and how this might be understood from a non-anthropocentric standpoint.
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- The seminar will be led by Elisabeth Povinelli and Mariana Berezovska, and the meeting will be moderated by Antoni Michnik.
- Elisabeth Povinelli
- is a researcher, theorist and artist, author of the concept of geontology, which describes mechanisms of power based on the distinction between life and non-life. Examples involving the earth as a listening subject played an important role in the development of this concept.
- Mariana Berezovska
- is a curator, editor of the magazine Borshch and initiator of the Disturbed Ground project, dedicated to researching the sonic aspects of war-induced damage to the land in Ukraine.
- Antoni Michnik
- is a researcher, theorist, editor and artist specialising in historical research on sound and sound art.
