Soundscape Studies

In fragile Arctic ecosystems, even small sonic and ecological shifts matter. Mosquitoes support food webs, influence animal movement, and contribute to the balance of tundra life. As the Arctic warms rapidly, mosquitoes are appearing earlier in the year, their life cycles are changing, and new species are moving north. While the broader ecological consequences remain under study, Indigenous ecological knowledge offers insights grounded in long-term coexistence and close attention to microscopic change. In Sápmi, mosquitoes are part of a wider network of relations among humans, animals, insects, weather, and the Land. Their buzzing, often heard as discomfort, may also be listened to as part of oral tradition, ecological memory, and even yoik melody. To discuss these perspective, I use the sound installation “Čuoikkariššu / Mosquito Shower” co-designed by Sámi scholar and I as primary case study. Using a stereo sound shower device, the installation vertically directs mosquito sounds into a very intimate listening area, creating a physical experience in which listeners are literally “showered” in mosquito buzzing. By inviting various audiences to attend the direct, itchy voices of mosquitoes, we wished to turn irritation into an ethical and aesthetic threshold. We invite everybody under the mosquito shower, asking what it means to listen with care to beings we are trained to reject, and how uncomfortable coexistence might reshape multispecies responsibility in times of planetary trouble.

Role of Academic Coordinator from the University of Helsinki.
The Summer School “Climate Change: Indigenous Perspectives and Artistic Utopias” explores urgent questions surrounding climate change through an interdisciplinary lens, bringing together scholars from diverse and seemingly distant academic fields. The program examines how cultural practices can generate responses – speculative, concrete, political and communal – to the multiple crises of climate change, from perspectives beyond Western paradigms. The course combines lecture-based sessions with interactive workshops, including a videogame development jam, alongside sound performances, an artistic VR installation, and other practice-led, horizontal and participatory activities designed to foster dialogue and active engagement among participants. The program also includes a visit to a local cultural space.

Text of video prepared for the El Aleph Festival in 2022 in Mexico City, themed by music, sound, and environment.  Summary of my sound ecology project with emphasis on the experience of sonic presence and co-presence, community, economy, and ecology.

After the Crusader period, the use of church bells in Jerusalem was forbidden for centuries. The religious soundscape of the Holy City was dominated by the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer. Local Christian communities struck the semantron, usually an elongated piece of wood that had been employed since Late Antiquity. This article looks at the reintroduction of bell ringing in the holiest city of Christianity during the last decades of Ottoman rule. While the Christian practice had been tolerated in a few locations such as Mount Athos and the Cyclades, its use was only allowed across the Ottoman dominions during the Tanzimat period. Through a combination of written sources and instances of material culture (bells and bell towers) I trace the reintroduction of bell ringing in Jerusalem and its expansion throughout the city from the mid-nineteenth century onwards.

El capítulo analiza cómo las relaciones sociales inciden en la formación musical de los organistas y su impacto en la conservación del patrimonio cultural de los órganos históricos de Oaxaca. Basada en la teoría del campo de Bourdieu y la hermenéutica de Gadamer, la autora destaca que la formación musical, inscrita en redes comunitarias e institucionales, es fundamental para la continuidad material e inmaterial de estos instrumentos. A partir de narrativas de organistas originarios y su experiencia propia como organista, se evidencia que la preservación trasciende la restauración física, integrando procesos sociales, tensiones y desigualdades, especialmente en comunidades indígenas. Para superar estas dificultades, los organistas han desarrollado estrategias colectivas como asociaciones, festivales y trabajo comunitario. El capítulo se estructura en tres partes: primero, el contexto histórico, legal y musical de los órganos; segundo, el análisis del campo social con sus tensiones y desigualdades a través de relatos de vida; y tercero, las propuestas y estrategias para una gestión participativa y sostenible. Finalmente, se concluye que la preservación es un proceso colectivo que debe garantizar equidad, democratización y respeto a los derechos culturales, reconociendo el valor comunitario de este patrimonio.

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Este ensayo aborda el Centro Histórico de Puebla desde la perspectiva del paisaje sonoro, explorando cómo sus campanarios, pregones, organilleros, mercados y dinámicas cotidianas conforman una identidad acústica vinculada a la memoria y al patrimonio cultural. A través de un recorrido por distintos espacios emblemáticos de la ciudad, se reflexiona sobre la escucha como una práctica estética que permite comprender las transformaciones sociales, culturales e históricas del territorio. El texto propone que atender a las sonoridades urbanas fortalece nuestra relación con el espacio habitado y contribuye a la preservación de su riqueza patrimonial.

O livro aborda duas vertentes cinematográficas brasileiras: o Cinema Novo e o Cinema Marginal. Seu objetivo é investigar as bandas sonoras das duas manifestações cinematográficas, com análises de produções compreendidas entre os anos de 1968 e 1972, levantando a problemática do som como elemento central na distância estética entre as duas cinematografias. Será no som dos filmes onde mais se evidencia a grande diferenciação estética entre o Cinema Novo e o Cinema Marginal? Essa pergunta é o guia que orienta a obra, somada a um conjunto de hipóteses onde a técnica e a estética caminham lado a lado para que se chegue a um resultado final. Nesse sentido, o autor argumenta que o elemento som exerce forte influência no cinema moderno brasileiro ao ponto da concepção sonora ser reflexo consequente da ruptura entre o Cinema Novo e Cinema Marginal.

This research focuses on the first two albums titled “Twelve Fantasy Pieces after the Zodiac for Amplified Piano”.
These albums, which feature themes such as space, time, religion and mystery, are characterized by their use of amplified
piano techniques and examples of graphic notation.  The universe of the study consists of Crumb's “Makrokosmos” albums,
while the sample consists of six examples of graphic notation found here. In this study, which adopts a qualitative research
method and a cross-sectional research design, a content analysis of the musical notation materials was conducted. The study
investigated which contemporary piano performance techniques were employed in the works, and identified which thematic
group is dominant in the albums. Practical advice was given to performers on understanding and deciphering the six
examples of graphic notation identified in the work. The study, which aimed to facilitate the deciphering and performance
of pictorial scores, also drew on the researcher's stage experience.

Skärgårdssamhället Nagu har ett rikt kulturliv, bland annat flera musikfestivaler och evenemang som på olika sätt berikar den fast bosatta befolkningens vardag. En stor del av kulturevenemangen genomförs på sommaren och riktar sig till turister och sommargäster. Bland utbudet hittar man "Potatisfestivalen De Vita Päron" som vanligtvis arrangeras veckan innan midsommar. Festivalen som arrangeras av den lokala kulturföreningen Multiculti rf är varken en renodlad musikfestival eller en matfestival utan en marknadsdag med fokus på närproducerade produkter och olika typer av program. I centrum står nypotatisen, det vill säga de vita potatisar som på Nagudialekt kallas "vita päron". Marknadsdagar och skördefester kopplade till årstidsrytmer har ur ett historiskt perspektiv varit förknippade med musik, sång och dans. Potatisfestivalen är inget undantag eftersom ett stående inslag i festivalprogrammet är framförandet av "potatissånger", eller "päronsånger" som de kallas på dialekt. Den här traditionen verkar ha fått sin start år 2005 då en handfull sånger med potatistematik författades av lokala kulturpersonligheter för att framföras på den allra första potatisfestivalen. En del av dessa sånger sjungs på standardsvenska medan andra framförs helt eller delvis på dialekt. Även om man i själva kontexten (en marknadsdag) och tematiken (potatis) både kan se kopplingar till jordbrukssamhällets årstidsrytm och tolka potatissånger som en form av skörde- eller arbetssånger, rör det sig om relativt nyskrivna sånger - inte muntligt traderad och insamlad folklig kultur med bakgrund i det äldre agrarsamhällets musikkultur och årstidsrytm. Det är med andra ord varken insamlad folklig kultur som levandegörs (som folkmusik) eller nyproduktion (jfr Arvidsson 2023) utan en förhållandevis ny men hos lokalbefolkningen uppskattad tradition, som inte lätt låter sig inordnas i en bestämd genre. I den här texten illustreras således en "ny" men historiskt rotad tradition i vardande, som uppstått i anslutning till en festival som kulturellt ramverk. Det som gör sångerna unika, utöver potatistematiken, är att de flesta är författade på melodin till sången "Don't cry for me Argentina" (1976/1978, text: Tim Rice, musik: Andrew Lloyd Webber).

Notes on Bell ringing at Frome from ca 1600 to the early C20 Before the introduc on of church bells into the Chris an Church, different methods were used to call the worshippers: playing trumpets, hi ng wooden planks, shou ng, or using a courier. In AD 604, Pope Sabinian officially sanc oned the usage of bells.

This article explores the soundscapes of Île de Sainte-Marie (Nosy Boraha), an island off the northeastern coast of Madagascar, by combining ethnographic fieldwork with perspectives from sound studies and postcolonial theory. While the research so far has focused on the sonic characteristics of Madagascar's forests, this article investigates everyday urban, rural, ritual, and natural sound environments. Drawing on field recordings, participant observation, and interviews conducted during a 2024 ethnomusicological expedition, I analyse how sound mediates space, shapes identity, and reflects broader social dynamics. Through the lens of acoustemology and soundscape theory, I argue that sound in Sainte-Marie Island is not merely a backdrop but a cultural force-one that negotiates memory, community, and belonging in a postcolonial context.

The paper presents a practice-based research on acoustic ecology, sound art and architecture. It addresses creative approaches to the experience and performance of soundscapes within interventions in public space. As the sound environment is an increasingly topic of concern, here it becomes valorised as an efective creative tool for the development of more sustainable ecosystems. This research questions what qualities should be enhanced in soundscapes, in order to create sustainable relationships in everyday public spaces, towards sensorial, environmental and territorial regenerations. The paper unfolds three practical case studies and its transdisciplinary approach, drawn around three axis: experience, creativity, participation. The methods integrate fieldwork, installation and workshops with communities. The innovation lies in addressing the heritage of soundscapes as creative resource to intervene in space and society, to enhance hidden qualities of everyday life, to promote well-being and sustainable uses of ecosystems.

This article critically examines the dichotomy between disturbance and presence in the evaluation of high-intensity anthropogenic sounds, questioning its adequacy for understanding the cultural, affective, and ecological significance of loud motor soundscapes.

The study and understanding of music cultures has long taken airborne sound propagation as its implicit point of departure, naturalizing a model of listening rooted in human auditory perception and reproduced through ear-affine evolutions of recording technology. Current directions in ethnomusicology increasingly acknowledge sound ontologies where musical heritages exceed human prerogatives and are rather approached as expanded soundworlds in which natural environments actively participate and through which musical knowledge is transmitted to humans. Through exemplary biocultural cases, this paper critically examines how technological borrowings and adaptations from bioacoustics may offer us with an opportunity to attune ethnomusicological inquiry to ontological plurality and to do justice to other forms of life that bear equal responsibility in the constitution of the musical phenomena under study. The analysis shows that, although bioacoustic technologies are grounded in different listening premises — prioritizing frequencies, temporalities, and modes of propagation that bypass or exceed human auditory perception — their integration into the ethnomusicologist’s toolkit nonetheless enables learning through musical expressions as they propagate in or through media other than air (i.e., water, soil, electromagnetic fields), or through airborne acoustics operating at ultra- and infrasonic frequencies, allowing ethnomusicology to embrace biocultural heritages while upholding its own identity and values within the sonic humanities.

This paper addresses the epistemic and methodological blind spots in the fields that shaped my training as a non-Indigenous scholar in the study of Arctic sonic environments. While conservation bioacoustics has generally treated nature sounds as pristine and acoustically independent objects, Sámi acoustemologies understand sonic environments as living repositories of yoik and oral stories—dimensions often relegated to cultural or music studies in mainstream scholarship. Approaches to environmental sounds in both acoustic humanities and natural sciences remain largely uncommunicative, bound to observational methods that silence local epistemes and reproduce settler dichotomies of “nature” sharply separated from “culture”. As a result, they fall short of satisfactorily engaging with heritages that are not separable in these categories, but rather relationally shared between people and their animate environments.
Yoik—as a heritage inheriting its notes from the voices of the land (Valkeapää 2001; Skaltje 2005)—is exemplary of this relationality. It unsettles disciplinary boundaries and calls academic inquiry toward a different mode of listening and research storying: one that hears yoik as more than music, and environmental sounds as possible yoik in the land. At a time of accelerating environmental crisis, catastrophic biodiversity loss, and voracious extractivism, what role can heritage-making play in acknowledging and safeguarding the yoik heard in the sound of the wind, in the gurgling of streams, or in the buzzing of mosquitoes?
In this presentation, critical reflections on the theoretical shortcomings outlined above are interwoven with sounds and visuals from two co-designed projects that—developed over a decade of collaborations with juoigit, sound scholars and artists in Sápmi—explore possible answers to this pivotal question foregrounding biocultural sustainability in soundscape conservation. The first project is the audio-anthology Muitalusat guldaleami birra. Histories of Listening from Sápmi—a compilation of field recordings and oral stories shared from all over Sápmi, developed as multimedia output of my recently defended doctoral dissertation. The second is Advocate of Yoik, an in-progress film co-authored with Ánde Somby, which explores yoik as both a relational vocal practice shared with the land, and a form of ecological advocacy grounded in the life narrative of the juoigi.

While ethnographic literature historically divested joik performances of other-than-human agency – defining it as an exclusively human practice – Sámi onto-epistemologies underscore how joiking transcends human performativity and rather represents a biocultural sonic expression that any organic or inorganic inhabitant of the Indigenous Arctic can voice. Joik melodies are heard in the howling of wind, in the grunting of reindeers, in the buzzing of mosquitoes… But how musical is mosquito? This paper seeks to address this provocative question, firmly embedded in issues of acoustemological relativism. Whereas travelers and missionaries – extending to today’s mass tourists – have hopelessly lamented the agonizing and persistent buzz of mosquitoes in the Arctic summer, Sámi auditory culture ascribes strong musical values to them, with evident aesthetic implications on how listening to other-than-human voices defines Sámi joiking. Confronting the divergent onto-epistemologies of Sámi and non-Indigenous audiences, dialogic analyses delve into the culturally contingent concepts of “musicality” and “sonic undesirability” towards the disputed sonic agency of mosquitoes in Arctic Europe. Through this critical case study, the paper addresses current gaps in ethno-eco-musicological research dealing with multispecies voices, advancing an Indigenous methodology that challenges top-down and often-unquestioned applications of ethno-anthropocentric acoustemological paradigms that overlook the plurality of Indigenous aesthetics and sustainabilities associated with multispecies sounding practices and listening experiences. This approach is informed by Sámi ways of storying, modes of scholarly publication and knowledge co-creation that foster musicking and traditional storytelling as research methods, more than study objects. Thus, throughout this paper, joiking and Indigenous storytelling are adopted as bioculturally sustainable pathways for analyzing mosquito voices. Findings reveal an inextricable tapestry of ecosystemic relationships, situated knowledge and multispecies memories that extend beyond musical realms. Ultimately, this approach urges a decolonizing re-evaluation of relevancy and applicability of musical paradigms and methods in the ethnographic consultation of Sámi and other Indigenous onto-epistemologies.

Collections and archives of environmental sound recordings are undergoing rapid transformations, diversifying their intents from educational purposes and biodiversity conservation to artistic endeavors and broader entertainment projects. The recorded materials, often presented as pristine soundscapes seemingly untouched by any cultural agency, mirror nature-culture dichotomies and tendencies for sonic “salvation” which shaped the collecting attitude of sound-related disciplines both in Natural Sciences and Humanities. In recent decades, communities urging for the return of sonic heritage have signaled a growing awareness towards the severe material and immaterial consequences of such approaches to soundscape conservation, driven by colonial logics of extraction, appropriation, objectification, and displacement. The current gap in established and sustainable guidelines for co-designed and participatory archival practices – capable of granting intellectual sovereignty to communities over their own sonic heritage – is addressed on transdisciplinary grounds through a multitude of creative approaches frequently inspired by local knowledge.
Muitalusat guldaleami birra is an artistic research project that weave together a plurality of listening experiences from Sápmi. It consists in an audio-anthology narrated through diverse voices of Sámi artists and researchers, along with other-than-human beings co-existing in the northernmost fringes of Europe. Product of a broader study aimed at exploring Sámi acoustemologies, its contents and structure have been co-designed with local communities for the return of soundscapes and related narratives to the land they ancestrally belong to. Adopting Indigenous storytelling, joik performances and soundscape composition as preferred media, the audio-anthology explores sonic connections with the land, as well as addresses the profound consequences of colonial extractivism and climate change on the delicate biocultural soundscapes of the Arctic.
In presenting the methodologies collaboratively adopted from the co-designing to the dialogic recording, cataloguing, and dissemination of materials, this paper seeks to address key research questions: who holds the right to collect and archive soundscapes? For whom is the recorded soundscape collected? To whom is it relevant as archivable subject? Additionally, the paper examines how lands and local communities are represented through the archive and explores the leading role of local knowledge in the development of sustainable approaches to the collection and archival of soundscapes.

The RE-SOUND – Interdisciplinary Research on Soundscapes and Acoustic Ecology (University of Bologna) organises an intensive workshop on field recording techniques and ecoacoustic analysis of urban soundscapes. This year’s workshop will cover sonic and musical interactions between Bologna and its inhabitants, particularly addressing the impacts of anthropogenic noise pollution on auditory cultures and biocultural ecosystems.
Participants will engage in hands-on activities, both in the field and through digital tools. They are expected to bring their own laptops and earphones, and prior installation of open-source software such as Sonic Visualiser for spectral analysis and Raven Lite for ecoacoustic monitoring is essential. While due to time constraints participants will receive a set of recordings which were pre-collected at precise coordinates through a standardized recording system, they are also encouraged to bring their portable recording equipment.
Each participant will analyze the shared set of recordings, identifying and tracking a specific sound source through the spectrogram. The exercise will consist in evaluating the average SPL of the selected sound source at different points in space and time, while also assessing the degree of its sonic masking induced by noise pollution or other dominant sources.
The three-hour workshop will be structured into three distinct stages, each guided by field specialists. The initial stage (30 minutes) will focus on familiarizing participants with essential tools and methodologies for Acoustic Ecology research. The second stage (1 hour) will involve a brief soundwalk across the historic centre of Bologna, providing participants with the opportunity to conduct recordings and listen-to/with the histories of places and their ongoing transformations. The first half of the final stage (30 minutes) will be dedicated to discussing the recordings collected during the soundwalk and comparing them with the pre-collected recordings obtained with the standardized recording system. In the second half of the final stage (1 hour), participants will use Sonic Visualiser and Raven Lite to conduct spectrogram analyses on the pre-collected recordings. At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be introduced to methods of sound mapping through QGIS, which enable visual representations of the results of the spectrogram analysis.

According to the traditional belief system of the Sámi people, every corner of their Indigenous territory in the European Arctic is inhabited and traversed by a diverse multitude of more-than-human spirits which, since time immemorial, actively tend to this ancestral land, meticulously regulating the fragile ecosystemic relations among all its inhabitants. Beside the customary practice of material offerings, the Sámi mainly encounter these entities within the sonic realm, engaging with them through environmental listening, joik performances and percussive divinations on ceremonial drums. Based on interviews and ecoacoustic recordings carried out during ethnographic fieldwork, this paper examines these hierophonies – sacred components of a soundscape – to draw attention on their ecological implications. Adopting biocultural and post-colonial approaches capable of challenging nature-culture dichotomies that hold no relevance within Sámi onto-epistemologies, the study places specific emphasis on symbolic reinterpretations of forms and values in human-spirit communication during times of environmental catastrophe. The relentless colonial extraction of natural resources and the resulting depletion of Sámi biocultural landscape emerge as novel topoi in both the material and immaterial expressions of Sámi spirituality. Two representative cases support the analysis of these transformations: (1) vocal interactions with spirits through the echoing of sacred sites where the acoustic environment has been disrupted by colonial extractivism, and (2) the iconographic translation of the ecological crisis portrayed as cognitive map on the membrane of a Sámi ceremonial drum. Driven by the same oracular question – «what will the spirits tell us about the events to come?» – through which the Sámi traditionally consult their spirits, both cases converge to highlight ways in which the Sámi interpret contemporary global challenges within a local cosmological and ecological horizon, negotiating ancestral knowledge and incorporating modernity into a shared interpretative framework which ensures and entrust an effective transmission of spiritual and ecological knowledge in a challenging present.

The paper explores the sonic relationships between gender and materiality in the Opera dei pupi, the Sicilian puppet theatre. It focuses on puppets as performative sound sources whose bodies, clothes, armors, shields and weapons exhibit specific acoustic properties which contribute to the definition of specific roles, rhythms, as well as to a more general enrichment of puppeteers’ storytelling. From chivalric narratives to hagiographies, bandits’ tales, and contemporary episodes, the craft of male and female characters has been characterized by a peculiar attention to the employed materials and adornments, which in a staged framework inherit distinctive sound identities. The concept of ‘sonic materiality’ is applied to the intersectional study of gender and class representation in the Sicilian puppetry to detect feminine and masculine attributes within the soundscape of the Palermitan Opera dei Pupi, as well as the occurrences and functions of gendered sounds in past and present narratives. Material recordings collected during various staged performances by means of piezoelectric sensors emphasized the predominant dichotomy between “silent” damsels, shepherds and marginal characters, and the loud, impetuous masculinity of paladins and Saracens. Soft cloth and wood sounds from the former are regularly overwhelmed by metal clangs and wooden stomps by the latter, which ultimately impose and dominate over the acoustic frame of the puppet’s theatre. This generally reinforced sonic dualism is often challenged by liminal characters such as Carinda and Bradamante, among other female protagonists, that hold and exalt ‘masculine’ attributes both visually and acoustically. Through interviews with puppeteers and manufacturers, as well as dialogical acoustic analysis, the paper aims at contributing to the discussion on materiality as a crucial multi-sensorial element for the broadening of music and sound practices research. It also engages critical sound studies methods and sonotope theory in the onto-epistemological understanding of gender roles within oral and material storytelling.

Similarly to other circumpolar cultures, Sami indigenous peoples from Arctic Europe have not developed specific interests in fostering a significant variety of musical instruments. Within ethnographic literature, this circumstance is read as a symptom of Sami early semi-nomadic history and Arctic harsh conditions, which discouraged the carriage of burdensome instruments along reindeer trails, and rather catalyzed the development of a highly sophisticated vocal tradition. Yoik is commonly defined as vocal music traditionally performed by individuals without any accompaniment and believed to originate from nature and “live” in open environments. Based on fieldwork and literature review, the paper discusses the nuanced boundaries around the idea of “accompaniment” within traditional and modern yoik. From emic ontological and acoustemological perspectives, the Sami interpret wind, rivers, boulders, and every feature of Sápmi environment as potential music actants capable of intervening polyphonically and polyorganically to the performance of yoik. Additionally, contemporary Sami musicians are increasingly introducing virtual reconstructions of Sápmi “sonosphere” to their productions by manipulating field-recordings as instrumental sounds. By presenting heterogeneous samples of Sami land-based sound sources, practices and aesthetics, the notion of musical instrument is called into question, urging it past what is humanly manageable and opening it up to more-than-human ontologies.

Coniugando joik del paesaggio e sinfonia a programma, due distinte tradizioni volte in maggiore o minore misura all’espressione di contenuti extra-musicali attraverso mezzi specificamente musicali, la Juoigansinfoniija di Seppo Baron Paakkunainen e Nils-Aslak Valkeapää offre inedite prospettive all’indagine estetico-filosofica sulle dinamiche esistenti sul piano musicale tra uomo e natura. Un’indagine che forse ancor troppo debolmente volge il proprio orecchio verso gli esiti di quel sincretismo creativo generato dall’incontro tra repertori indigeni di tradizione orale e musiche della tradizione scritta occidentale. Questa relazione documenta il caso della traduzione sinfonica di un canto joik tradizionale delle popolazioni indigene sami dell’Europa artica. La fruttuosa collaborazione tra un compositore finlandese e un artista sami ha portato alla genesi di una composizione musicale multilivello, la cui completa decodificazione non può prescindere dalla conoscenza di norme estetiche idiosincraticamente indigene. All’orecchio sami, il vento, effettivo oggetto dello joik orchestrato, appare immediatamente riconoscibile e decifrabile in quanto tale e non in quanto sua rappresentazione. Ciò avviene in funzione del peculiare potere evocativo degli joik, nella cui performance è codificato un ampio insieme di percezioni, saperi e valori articolato dai sami a partire dall’esperienza sensibile del mondo abitato, costruito e attraversato. L’indagine è stata condotta attraverso lo studio di fonti orali e manoscritte, nonché interviste semi-strutturate e conversazioni svolte in collaborazione con diversi musicisti sami, sul campo e a distanza.

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La presente voce introduce i principi fondamentali dell’ecologia acustica e analizza le cause, gli effetti e le implicazioni dell’inquinamento acustico sugli ecosistemi, evidenziando il ruolo del suono nelle relazioni ambientali e nei processi comunicativi tra specie, nonché l’impatto di compositori e artisti del suono nell’esplorare, denunciare e reinterpretare criticamente le trasformazioni sonore dell’ambiente.

Among the Sámi Indigenous peoples that inhabit the circumpolar region of Scandinavia, Finland and northwest Russia, joiking is a sonic expression aimed at evoking specific persons, animals, places and features of the landscape. In ethnographic literature, the early understanding of joiking has been that of a cultural practice exclusive to humans whereas, according to past and present Sámi ontologies, both humans and other-than-human entities have agency in joiking. In fact, the origin myths of joiking are regularly associated with aural experiences of the landscape and, specifically, of the wind (biegga). The significant role of biegga in Sámi landscape practices has frequently been noted, but no specific attention has been paid yet to its acoustemologies among the Sámi and their impact on Indigenous music-making. To bridge this gap, the paper aims at tracing Sámi histories of listening-with-the-wind in settler and fieldwork accounts, in the joiking tradition, as well as in contemporary indigenous arts. Taking on joiks of the wind and field recordings as specific case studies, it also examines how joik as relational sonic act can be studied as Indigenous acoustemology and how listening to joiking – in the same way as listening to the environment – can lead to a better understanding of the world and its transformations.

Similarly to other circumpolar cultures, Sámi indigenous peoples from Arctic Europe have not developed specific interests in fostering a significant variety of musical instruments. Within ethnographic literature, this circumstance is read as a symptom of Sámi early semi-nomadic history and Arctic harsh conditions, which discouraged the carriage of burdensome instruments along reindeer trails, and rather catalyzed the development of a highly sophisticated vocal tradition. Joik is commonly defined as vocal music traditionally performed by individuals without any accompaniment and believed to originate from nature and “live” in open environments. Based on fieldwork and literature review, the paper discusses the nuanced boundaries around the idea of “accompaniment” within traditional and modern joik. From emic ontological and acoustemological perspectives, the Sámi interpret wind, rivers, boulders, and every feature of Sápmi environment as potential music actants capable of intervening polyphonically and polyorganically to the performance of joik. Additionally, contemporary Sámi musicians are increasingly introducing virtual reconstructions of Sápmi sonosphere to their productions by manipulating field-recordings as instrumental sounds. By presenting heterogeneous samples of Sámi land-based sound sources, practices and aesthetics, the notion of musical instrument is called into question, urging it past what is humanly manageable and opening it up to more-than-human ontologies.

The 'spirit' in the stone. Hierophonic traces from the Indigenous' European tundra //

Nel sistema di credenze tradizionali dei Sámi, sono entità ctonie quali ulddat e gufihttarat ad aver donato lo joik agli esseri umani. Attraverso questa pratica vocale, i Sámi continuano ancora oggi a relazionarsi con l’ambiente circostante codificando e trasmettendo un complesso organo di saperi ecologici, credenze ancestrali e attività rituali che contribuiscono a tracciare un’immanente presenza del sacro nel paesaggio. Ogni angolo della tundra artica è abitato e attraversato da un cospicuo novero di spiriti reciprocamente associati alle componenti naturali di questa landa sconfinata. Maestose alture (bassevárit) e insolite formazioni rocciose (sieiddit) rappresentano da tempo immemore dimore privilegiate degli spiriti – e per questo luoghi propizi per l’incontro tra i Sámi e tali entità. Si tratta di siti spesso individuati in funzione di straordinarie proprietà acustiche capaci di fornire qualità ultraterrene agli eventi sonori che in essi hanno vita. A partire da una prospettiva archeoacustica sviluppata nell’ambito della fenomenologia indigena, questo saggio analizza le qualità risonanti della roccia come prerogativa imprescindibile per la manifestazione e l’interazione con gli spiriti, nonché per l’individuazione ierofonica di “teatri” rituali nel paesaggio naturale. Rilievi ecoacustici e testimonianze orali documentate sul campo orientano la narrazione attraverso casi passati e presenti di interazione musicale tra Sámi e spiriti ctoni del Sápmi. Il contributo intende fare particolare luce sulle strategie di re-interpretazione simbolica sollecitate, nell’ambito della relazione con gli spiriti, da fattori esterni alla tradizione quali i conflitti connessi allo smantellamento coloniale di siti sacri e alla più ampia crisi ambientale globale.

Building upon the acoustemologies of the Sámi – the only officially recognized Indigenous people in continental Europe – this article seeks to reconsider the ecologies and aesthetics of “silence” in light of the biocultural framework of Arctic echosystems. The contents are gathered in a parallel plot of histories of listening from Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders, from which distinct narratives of silence emerge. On one hand, silence is either presented as a hallmark of pristine, untouched nature, or a romanticized desert – both natural and cultural – echoing colonial ideologies of Terra nullius. On the other hand, within Indigenous acoustemologies, silence is indeed recognized as a distinctive feature of the Land, yet not as an absence of sound but as a state in which even the faintest of sounds emerges prominent and meaningful. The introduction of oversnow and all-terrain vehicles in the Arctic variably altered this multifaceted understanding of silence, as the article critically interrogates the responses of both Sámi and settler audiences to this loud anthropic sound source. Whether or not, paraphrasing Schafer, the sound of snowmobiles destroys a mystified “idea of North”, it is crucial to recognize that the same sound is also valued as familiar or even homely by Indigenous peoples who have fully integrated these vehicles into their traditional livelihoods. Using the anthropogenic noise of snowmobiles as a critical and counterpointal lens within Arctic echosystems, silence is consulted through the perspective of Sámi acoustemologies, challenging the sonic colonialities inherent in top-down approaches to ecoacoustic conservation, and tracing the sonic reciprocities matured among people, machines, and other Earth beings of the tundra.

English/North Sámi: The challenge of defining ‘music’ and ‘sound’ across cultures has been a persistent concern in ethnomusicological and anthropological research from the outset of these fields. Top-down academic applications of these concepts often remain unquestioned, affecting the rich plurality of local classifications for diverse sounding practices and experiences alongside their associated bodies of knowledge. This dissertation critically examines the relevance of these overarching categories in the context of Sámi acoustemologies, proposing a novel theoretical paradigm derived from and informed by Indigenous sound ontologies: ‘more-than-music’ (eanet go musihkka).
‘More-than-music’ seeks to challenge the ethno-anthropocentric characterizations of sonic relationships across societies and environments, which emerge from academic discourses. Its bottom-up nature underlines the necessity to acknowledge the complexity of local onto-epistemologies and the agencies of human and other-than-human beings in academic research practices. To measure the validity and applicability of the ‘more-than-music’ paradigm, this study places emphasis on juoiggus as a Sámi more-than-musical expression and biocultural heritage that bridges human performativity and aesthetics with voices of other-than-human subjectivities and animate environments. Within the scopes of this thesis, ‘more-than-music’ transcends its theoretical meanings, becoming a literal call to explore Sápmi echosystems in their biocultural complexity – from a perspective ‘beyond music’. This entails primarily a methodology of listening-with Earth, to learn from intangible sonic relationships between Sámi individuals, communities, and the land. Such approach contextually examines the desirable and undesirable quality of diverse sonic events, confronting the impacts of colonial extractivism and climate change on the delicate echosystems of the Arctic and leading to considerations of sound heritagization and sustainable practices for soundscape monitoring and preservation.
The analysis is guided by the research questions: How can juoiggus be explained as something more-than-music? What can we learn from the sonic relationships between individuals, communities and place through juoiggus? How have these interconnections been altered by the transformation of landscapes and traditional knowledge resulted from settler colonialism and environmental crises?
While this dissertation builds on mixed methods situated at the convergence of ethnography and ecology, the methodology has been tailored to align with decolonizing research practices appropriate for a thesis developed in collaboration with Indigenous peoples and centered on Indigenous Knowledge. These include the adoption of traditional storytelling, juoiggus and sound art as media complementing academic writing to provoke changes in forms of scholarly publication and modes of knowledge co-creation that resonate with alternative knowledge systems. As a concrete manifestation of this methodology, the manuscript is accompanied by the audio-anthology Muitalusat guldaleami birra – Histories of listening from Sápmi, a collaborative artistic research project that serves as a multimedia output for the thesis and a means of returning the collected knowledge and sound recordings. The audio-anthology weaves together a plurality of listening experiences and soundscape compositions from Sápmi, integrating the contents of the dissertation while delving into the notion of ‘more-than-music’.
ABSTRÁKTA: Áddet mii rehkenasto “musihkkan” ja “jietnan” molsašuddá miehtá kultuvrraid. Lihkká geavahuvvojit dát tearpmat njuolgot akademalaš oahpuin gažakeahttá. Dát sáhttá badjelgeahččat dan rikkis girjjásvuođa main báikkálaš vugiin lea, šláddjet ja vásihit jiena. Dutkkus guorahallá kritihkalaččat gusket go dát viiddis akademalaš definišuvnnat Sámi akustemologiijaide. Dat introdusere ođđa konseapta vuođđuduvvon eamiálbmoga jietnamáhttus.
“Eanet-go-musihka”-jurdda hástala etno-antroposentralaš govvidusa jietna-dilálašvuođain miehtá iešguđetlágan servvodagaid ja birrasiid mat ihtet akademalaš digaštallamiin. Dan sadjái dat deattuha dárbbu gudnejahttit ja oahpat báikkálaš oahppovuogádagain, ja maiddáid fátmmasta sihke olbmo ja eará elliid jienaid. Vuoi ahte dát suokkarduvvo, lea dutkosa guovddáš juoiggus – Sápmi eanet-go-musikála – albmanahttin mii ovttastahttá olbmo čájálmasa ja estetihkka ovttas jienaiguin eará elliin, fágain ja ealli birrasiin. “Eanet-go-musihka”-dutkos ii leat dušše teoriija muhto maiddái lahkoneapmi áddet Sámi echovuogádaga, iežaska biokultuvrralaš mánggadafohasas. Dát mielddisbuktá metodologiija “guldalit” eatnamiin, vuoi oahpá dan “sonic”:a gaskavuođas gaskal Sámi indiviidda, servvodaga ja birrasa. Dát oahppanvuohki veahkeha guorahallat sávahahtti ja eahpesávahahtti kvaliteahtta iešguđetlágan jienain, mii deaivida váikkuhusa koloniála “extractivisma”:s ja dan rašes árktalaš ekovuogádaga dálkkádatrievdama ja mielddisbuktá árvvoštallamiid guoddevaš jietnaárbbi práksisiin.
Dutkos čuovvu čuovvovaš dutkangažaldaga: Mo sáhttá juoiggus geahčaduvvot dego “eanet go musihkan”? Maid sáhttit mii oahpat vuogis mo sápmelaččat čatnasit jienaide ja báikkiide juoigama bokte? Mo leat dát dilálašvuođat rievdan koloniserema ja birrasa heđiid geažil? Mo veahkehit muitalusat bisuhit ja juohkit sonic:a máhttu, ja mo veahkeha guldalit eatnama hábmet mo sápmelaččat muitalit guldaleami birra? Maid sáhttet sámi guldalan práksisat min oahpat jiena birra otná máilmmis mii lea rievdadusas?
Dutkos geavaha iešguđetlágan vugiid ethnografiijas ja ekologiijas, čuovvodettiin etihkalaša guorrahállan práksisiid mat gudnejahttet eamiálbmoga máhttu. Čálalaš guorahallama lassin, fátmmastuvvo sámi muitaleapmi, juoiggus, ja jietnadáidda vuohkin čájehit máhttu vugiid mielde mat mannet árbevirrolaš teavsttaid miehtá. Oassin dán lahkoneamis, lea jietnaprošeakta Muitalusat guldaleami birra veahkkin dutkosii. Dát čoakkálmas jietnabáddemiin ja muitalusain guosuhuvvo sihke kreatiivvalaš dutkamušan ja vuohkin addit ruovttaluotta máhttu fátmmastuvvon searvevuođaide. Dán bokte čatná dutkos oktii mángga iešguđetlágan guldalanvásáhusaid, ja čiekŋuda “eanet go musihkka” áddejumi.

English/North Sámi: The challenge of defining ‘music’ and ‘sound’ across cultures has been a persistent concern in ethnomusicological and anthropological research from the outset of these fields. Top-down academic applications of these concepts often remain unquestioned, affecting the rich plurality of local classifications for diverse sounding practices and experiences alongside their associated bodies of knowledge. This dissertation critically examines the relevance of these overarching categories in the context of Sámi acoustemologies, proposing a novel theoretical paradigm derived from and informed by Indigenous sound ontologies: ‘more-than-music’ (eanet go musihkka).
‘More-than-music’ seeks to challenge the ethno-anthropocentric characterizations of sonic relationships across societies and environments, which emerge from academic discourses. Its bottom-up nature underlines the necessity to acknowledge the complexity of local onto-epistemologies and the agencies of human and other-than-human beings in academic research practices. To measure the validity and applicability of the ‘more-than-music’ paradigm, this study places emphasis on juoiggus as a Sámi more-than-musical expression and biocultural heritage that bridges human performativity and aesthetics with voices of other-than-human subjectivities and animate environments. Within the scopes of this thesis, ‘more-than-music’ transcends its theoretical meanings, becoming a literal call to explore Sápmi echosystems in their biocultural complexity – from a perspective ‘beyond music’. This entails primarily a methodology of listening-with Earth, to learn from intangible sonic relationships between Sámi individuals, communities, and the land. Such approach contextually examines the desirable and undesirable quality of diverse sonic events, confronting the impacts of colonial extractivism and climate change on the delicate echosystems of the Arctic and leading to considerations of sound heritagization and sustainable practices for soundscape monitoring and preservation.
The analysis is guided by the research questions: How can juoiggus be explained as something more-than-music? What can we learn from the sonic relationships between individuals, communities and place through juoiggus? How have these interconnections been altered by the transformation of landscapes and traditional knowledge resulted from settler colonialism and environmental crises?
While this dissertation builds on mixed methods situated at the convergence of ethnography and ecology, the methodology has been tailored to align with decolonizing research practices appropriate for a thesis developed in collaboration with Indigenous peoples and centered on Indigenous Knowledge. These include the adoption of traditional storytelling, juoiggus and sound art as media complementing academic writing to provoke changes in forms of scholarly publication and modes of knowledge co-creation that resonate with alternative knowledge systems. As a concrete manifestation of this methodology, the manuscript is accompanied by the audio-anthology Muitalusat guldaleami birra – Histories of listening from Sápmi, a collaborative artistic research project that serves as a multimedia output for the thesis and a means of returning the collected knowledge and sound recordings. The audio-anthology weaves together a plurality of listening experiences and soundscape compositions from Sápmi, integrating the contents of the dissertation while delving into the notion of ‘more-than-music’.
ABSTRÁKTA: Áddet mii rehkenasto “musihkkan” ja “jietnan” molsašuddá miehtá kultuvrraid. Lihkká geavahuvvojit dát tearpmat njuolgot akademalaš oahpuin gažakeahttá. Dát sáhttá badjelgeahččat dan rikkis girjjásvuođa main báikkálaš vugiin lea, šláddjet ja vásihit jiena. Dutkkus guorahallá kritihkalaččat gusket go dát viiddis akademalaš definišuvnnat Sámi akustemologiijaide. Dat introdusere ođđa konseapta vuođđuduvvon eamiálbmoga jietnamáhttus.
“Eanet-go-musihka”-jurdda hástala etno-antroposentralaš govvidusa jietna-dilálašvuođain miehtá iešguđetlágan servvodagaid ja birrasiid mat ihtet akademalaš digaštallamiin. Dan sadjái dat deattuha dárbbu gudnejahttit ja oahpat báikkálaš oahppovuogádagain, ja maiddáid fátmmasta sihke olbmo ja eará elliid jienaid. Vuoi ahte dát suokkarduvvo, lea dutkosa guovddáš juoiggus – Sápmi eanet-go-musikála – albmanahttin mii ovttastahttá olbmo čájálmasa ja estetihkka ovttas jienaiguin eará elliin, fágain ja ealli birrasiin. “Eanet-go-musihka”-dutkos ii leat dušše teoriija muhto maiddái lahkoneapmi áddet Sámi echovuogádaga, iežaska biokultuvrralaš mánggadafohasas. Dát mielddisbuktá metodologiija “guldalit” eatnamiin, vuoi oahpá dan “sonic”:a gaskavuođas gaskal Sámi indiviidda, servvodaga ja birrasa. Dát oahppanvuohki veahkeha guorahallat sávahahtti ja eahpesávahahtti kvaliteahtta iešguđetlágan jienain, mii deaivida váikkuhusa koloniála “extractivisma”:s ja dan rašes árktalaš ekovuogádaga dálkkádatrievdama ja mielddisbuktá árvvoštallamiid guoddevaš jietnaárbbi práksisiin.
Dutkos čuovvu čuovvovaš dutkangažaldaga: Mo sáhttá juoiggus geahčaduvvot dego “eanet go musihkan”? Maid sáhttit mii oahpat vuogis mo sápmelaččat čatnasit jienaide ja báikkiide juoigama bokte? Mo leat dát dilálašvuođat rievdan koloniserema ja birrasa heđiid geažil? Mo veahkehit muitalusat bisuhit ja juohkit sonic:a máhttu, ja mo veahkeha guldalit eatnama hábmet mo sápmelaččat muitalit guldaleami birra? Maid sáhttet sámi guldalan práksisat min oahpat jiena birra otná máilmmis mii lea rievdadusas?
Dutkos geavaha iešguđetlágan vugiid ethnografiijas ja ekologiijas, čuovvodettiin etihkalaša guorrahállan práksisiid mat gudnejahttet eamiálbmoga máhttu. Čálalaš guorahallama lassin, fátmmastuvvo sámi muitaleapmi, juoiggus, ja jietnadáidda vuohkin čájehit máhttu vugiid mielde mat mannet árbevirrolaš teavsttaid miehtá. Oassin dán lahkoneamis, lea jietnaprošeakta Muitalusat guldaleami birra veahkkin dutkosii. Dát čoakkálmas jietnabáddemiin ja muitalusain guosuhuvvo sihke kreatiivvalaš dutkamušan ja vuohkin addit ruovttaluotta máhttu fátmmastuvvon searvevuođaide. Dán bokte čatná dutkos oktii mángga iešguđetlágan guldalanvásáhusaid, ja čiekŋuda “eanet go musihkka” áddejumi.

During the Seven Years' War (1756-63), the Russian 'Expeditionary Army' fought against Frederick the Great in Prussia. As well as regimental priests, an Orthodox 'chief priest' Ioann Bogaevsky from Ukraine was appointed, who was tasked with organizing the spiritual care of the army. Alongside him, Pastor Christian Täge, whose memoirs survive, was commissioned as Protestant chaplain. Based on their personal testimonies and unpublished archival materials, this article aims to reconstruct the organization of the military clergy in the Russian Imperial Army of the eighteenth century, taking into account its multi-ethnic and multiconfessional character. With this army including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and even pagans in addition to Orthodox Christians, this article also considers what religious coexistence looked like in practice, shedding light on forms of military religiosity. Contrary to perceptions of the irreligiousness of the military, not only is their active participation in church sacraments noted, but also the persistent tension between religious and rational attitudes to warfare, which were clearly evident in conflicts about adherence to traditional practices of piety.

PRESENTATION:

This presentation is about three recent papers which are currently in publication. The overarching theme is that openness is a required condition for value in virtual heritage, art, and AI. It asks the question, "What happens to creative and cultural value when systems stop making genuine contact with the world outside themselves?" The papers address this across; Spatial audio in virtual heritage, Generative AI art, and Sampling in musical practice and AI collapse.

The paper preprints cannot be uploaded here but they can be viewed at https://www.doornbusch.net/publications.html.

Il contributo indaga la funzione del suono e del rumore come dispositivi di costruzione dell’altrove nel romanzo arturiano d’oïl, concentrandosi in particolare sull’episodio della Cité Gaste nel Li Biaus Descouneüs di Renaut de Beaujeu. Attraverso l’analisi delle illusioni acustiche orchestrate dal mago Mabon – melodie celestiali, frastuoni infernali, finestre che sbattono, galoppate tonanti e percussioni rituali – l’articolo mostra come lo spazio meraviglioso sia configurato come una vera camera di riverberazione, nella quale il cavaliere viene disorientato, soggiogato e posto alla prova. Il palazzo dalle mille finestre appare così come una dimora cosmica e illusionistica, governata da un potere magico-sonoro che agisce sul confine fra incantamento, prestidigitazione e esperienza iniziatica. Il confronto con il Conte du Graal di Chrétien de Troyes e con il Parzival di Wolfram von Eschenbach consente di riconoscere una più ampia costellazione di architetture arturiane fondate su effetti son et lumière, in cui finestre, letti meravigliosi, colonne, strumenti e rumori concorrono a modellare spazi sospesi tra il qui e l’altrove. In dialogo con Eliade, Walter e gli studi sullo sciamanismo, il contributo interpreta queste dimore come palazzi-cosmo: luoghi nei quali il mago-illusionista crea e controlla lo spazio attraverso il suono, mentre l’eroe, riconquistando il centro, rifonda provvisoriamente l’ordine contro le potenze del caos.

Dialogando com autores como John Berger, Byung-Chul Han, Martin Heidegger e Anna Tsing, o texto articula arte, animalidade e experiência sensível para defender uma atenção hipersensível ao mundo e às relações interespecíficas. A lateralidade do agora é apresentada como uma forma de habitar o presente fora da lógica linear do progresso e da produtividade, apostando em desvios, precariedades e encontros imprevistos como possibilidades de sobrevivência coletiva. Nesse contexto, caminhar, observar e deixar-se afetar tornam-se práticas éticas e poéticas de resistência diante do colapso contemporâneo.

O artigo parte da imagem da baleia — animal provocador de avistamentos — para refletir sobre modos de ver e ser visto. O texto é um desdobramento de uma pesquisa artística sobre o mar e se volta para as imagens fugidias que se constroem por mediação técnica, seja por meio do pincel ou da câmera de vídeo. Argumenta-se que tais imagens rompem com a lógica do rendimento constante (HAN, 2021) e com a ilusão de acesso visual ilimitado, propondo um outro olhar, mais míope, capaz de frutificar em realidades turvas e efêmeras, terreno onde a filosofia, a arte e os estudos pós-humanistas elaboram ferramentas de sobrevivência (HARAWAY, 2016; HAYWARD, 2005; BARAD, 2003). Um dos argumentos centrais desenvolve-se em torno da ideia de ser engolido pela baleia, fazendo a passagem para seu interior (BAUCHWITZ, 2024). A partir dessa metáfora, o texto propõe imaginar o futuro desde a perspectiva da escuridão, encontrando refúgio nos encontros interespecíficos - ainda que fabulatórios.

Il saggio ricostruisce il paesaggio sonoro industriale di Napoli attraverso due romanzi: Tre operai di Carlo Bernari (1934) e La dismissione di Ermanno Rea (2002). Adottando le categorie del World Soundscape Project di R. Murray Schafer — tonica, segnale, impronta sonora — l'analisi mostra come Bernari inauguri la rappresentazione letteraria della «terza Napoli» industriale rappresentando per primo la congestione sonora a bassa fedeltà dell'ambiente di fabbrica. In Rea, i rumori dell'Ilva-Italsider di Bagnoli acquisiscono significato retrospettivo solo attraverso la loro scomparsa: il silenzio della fabbrica dismessa rivela le toniche che strutturavano la vita del quartiere per sei decenni.

The research investigates how natural, biophilic, and emotionally positive acoustic environments influence psychological perception and physiological response through neuroendocrine mechanisms. Using a multidisciplinary literature-based and environmental perception approach, this study evaluates the interaction between auditory stimuli, emotional appraisal, autonomic nervous system activity, and hormonal regulation within built and natural environments. Findings from contemporary soundscape and psychophysiological studies indicate that pleasant acoustic environments may contribute to reduced stress responses, improved mood states, enhanced relaxation, and restorative cognitive effects. Natural soundscapes such as birdsong, flowing water, and forest ambience are consistently associated with positive emotional perception and physiological recovery when compared to mechanical or urban noise exposure.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sound Art explores and delineates what Sound Art is in the 21st century. Sound artworks today embody the contemporary and transcultural trends towards the post-apocalyptic, a wide sensorial spectrum of sonic imaginaries as well as the decolonization and deinstitutionalization around the making of sound. Within the areas of musicology, art history, and, later, sound studies, Sound Art has evolved at least since the 1980s into a turbulant field of academic critique and aesthetic analysis. Summoning artists, researchers, curators, and critics, this volume takes note of and reflects the most recent shifts and drifts in Sound Art--rooted in sonic histories and implying future trajectories.

This paper presents a specific aspect of PhD research in progress titled "Hybrid dimensions of public space: from participatory city to collaborative city". By studying two urban interventions in the older railway complex in Campo Grande / MS, one using the video mapping and other digital graffiti techniques, the paper brings the discussion of the hybrid condition of public spaces as a locus of conflict and social interactions in cities, which allow a collective and continued construction, proposing to imagine a pluralistic and inclusive society. The technological support strengthens the connection relations, giving new meanings to the local architecture through the images projected and open space for communication, emerging the cultural resistance.

En un texto inconcluso, redactado en 1921, Walter Benjamin afirma que el capi- talismo tiene una estructura fundamentalmente religiosa. Cuatro rasgos respaldan esta aseveración: su carácter cultual, su pregnancia ininterrumpida, su estrecho vín- culo con la culpa y la exigencia de mantener oculto a su Dios. Esta enumeración, fragmentaria y escueta, constituye el punto de partida del presente artículo. El ob- jetivo es reflexionar en torno a la articulación entre el capitalismo -y su principal deidad: el dinero- y determinadas narrativas del sufrimiento. A tal fin responde la intención de detenerse en una serie de pares inescindibles: lo sagrado y lo profano, la culpa y la expiación, la equivalencia y la diferencia, el sufrimiento y la felicidad. Descomponer estas relaciones y visibilizar los nudos que sostienen la red de estos relatos es uno de los objetivos centrales del presente artículo.