Tracing the the potential of sound, infrasound, and ultrasound to access anomalous zones of transmission between the realms of the living and the dead.
For as long as recording and communications technologies have existed, operators have evoked the potential of sound, infrasound, and ultrasound to access anomalous zones of transmission between the realms of the living and the dead. In Unsound: Undead, contributors from a variety of disciplines chart these undead zones, mapping out a nonlinear timeline populated by sonic events stretching from the 8th century BC (the song of the Sirens), to 2013 (acoustic levitation), with a speculative extension into 2057 (the emergence of holographic and holosonic phenomena).
For the past seven years the AUDINT group has been researching peripheral sonic perception (unsound) and the ways in which frequencies are utilized to modulate our understanding of presence/non-presence, entertainment/torture, and ultimately life/death. Concurrently, themes of hauntology have inflected the musical zeitgeist, resonating with the notion of a general cultural malaise and a reinvestment in traces of lost futures inhabiting the present.
This undead culture has already spawned a Lazarus economy in which Tupac, ODB, and Eazy-E are digitally revivified as laser-lit holograms. The obscure otherworldly dimensions of sound have also been explored in the sonic fictions produced by the likes of Drexciya, Sun Ra, and Underground Resistance, where hauntology is virtually extended: the future appears in the cracks of the present.
The contributions to this volume reveal how the sonic nurtures new dimensions in which the real and the imagined (fictional, hyperstitional, speculative) bleed into one another, where actual sonic events collide with spatiotemporal anomalies and time-travelling entities, and where the unsound serves to summon the undead.
Contributors
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Lendl Barcelos, Charlie Blake, Lisa Blanning, Brooker Buckingham, Al Cameron, Erik Davis, Kodwo Eshun, Matthew Fuller, Kristen Gallerneaux, Lee Gamble, Agn s Gayraud, Steve Goodman, Anna Greenspan, Olga Gurionova, S. Ayesha Hameed, Tim Hecker, Julian Henriques, Toby Heys, Eleni Ikoniadou, Amy Ireland, Nicola Masciandaro, Ramona Naddaff, Anthony Nine, The Occulture, Luciana Parisi, Alina Popa, Paul Purgas, Georgina Rochefort, Steven Shaviro, Jonathan Sterne, Jenna Sutela, Eugene Thacker, Dave Tompkins, Shelley Trower, and Souzana Zamfe.
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Eleni Ikoniadou is a Lecturer in Media in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, London.
AUDINT is a sonic research unit exploring the weaponization of vibration, developing cartographies of liminal waveformed perception (unsound), and investigating the ways in which frequencies are utilized to modulate our understanding of presence/non-presence, entertainment/torture, and ultimately life/death. More information can be found at www.audint.net.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Luciana Parisi is a Senior Lecturer and runs the MA program in Interactive Media: Critical Theory and Practice at the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths University of London.
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub.
Matthew Fuller is Professor of Cultural Studies at the Digital Culture Unit, Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of
Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture (MIT Press),
Software Studies (MIT Press), and, with Andrew Goffey, of
Evil Media (MIT Press) as well as
Behind the Blip: Essays on the Culture of Software and other books.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Julian Henriques is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Eleni Ikoniadou is a Lecturer in Media in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, London.
Scott Wilson is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Birmingham, England.
Kristen Gallerneaux is a writer, folklorist, and artist. She has published on topics as diverse as mathematics in midcentury design, the visual history of telepathy research, the world's first mouse pad, and car audio bass battles in Miami. She is also Curator of Communications and Information Technology at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, where she continues to build upon one of the largest historic technology collections in North America.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Eugene Thacker is Assistant Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Eleni Ikoniadou is a Lecturer in Media in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, London.
Erik Davis is an American journalist, critic, podcaster, counter-public intellectual whose writings have run the gamut from rock criticism to cultural analysis to creative explorations of esoteric mysticism. He is the author of
Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information,
The Visionary State: A Journey through California's Spiritual Landscape, and
Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica.
Ayesha Hameed is currently the Co-Programme Leader for the PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Julian Henriques is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Agnès Gayraud is a French musician and philosopher born in 1979. She teaches theory at the Villa Arson (National Art School) in Nice. She has gained critical acclaim for her musical practice (as La Féline) and is a regular writer for the daily paper
Libération.
Ayesha Hameed is currently the Co-Programme Leader for the PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Steven Shaviro is DeRoy Professor of English at Wayne State University. He is the author of
Passion and Excess: Blanchot, Bataille, and Literary Theory and
The Cinematic Body. Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Agnès Gayraud is a French musician and philosopher born in 1979. She teaches theory at the Villa Arson (National Art School) in Nice. She has gained critical acclaim for her musical practice (as La Féline) and is a regular writer for the daily paper
Libération.
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub.
Eugene Thacker is Assistant Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Erik Davis is an American journalist, critic, podcaster, counter-public intellectual whose writings have run the gamut from rock criticism to cultural analysis to creative explorations of esoteric mysticism. He is the author of
Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information,
The Visionary State: A Journey through California's Spiritual Landscape, and
Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica.
Kristen Gallerneaux is a writer, folklorist, and artist. She has published on topics as diverse as mathematics in midcentury design, the visual history of telepathy research, the world's first mouse pad, and car audio bass battles in Miami. She is also Curator of Communications and Information Technology at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, where she continues to build upon one of the largest historic technology collections in North America.
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Eleni Ikoniadou is a Lecturer in Media in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, London.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub.
Toby Heys, a member of AUDINT, is Reader in Digital Media and the Head of Research for the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on the ways that frequencies are utilized by governments and industry to influence, manipulate, and torture. He is the author of
Sound Pressure, to be published in 2019.
