Sound of Democracy — How everyday sound environments support, reflect and deflect democratic values
Theme 2023-2024
All spaces and actions have an acoustic element to them. At the same time, questions of democracy in relation to everyday life — inclusion in, access to, equality of — play out across society. Sound has, in this context, a particularly disobedient quality — it does not obey visual, legal or ownership borders, and will be used as an element that crosses boundaries. Through the use of sound the Theme investigates democratic values, and their manifestation in sound environments.
Research on democracy investigates questions such as: How is power allocated between different actors? or How is expert knowledge democratized? We will examine everyday examples of how this allocation and democratization works. The Theme's main research question is how everyday sound environments support, reflect and deflect democratic values.
In this project, sound will be used both as the key theoretical component and as a methodological element that crosses boundaries through experimental and collective perception of sound environments, this will contribute to the discussion and visibility of structures of equality, justice and inclusion.