Silence. Meanings and Contexts

Description of the Seminar

In 1969, the UNESCO Music Council unanimously adopted a law giving everyone the right to silence in private and public places; violation of this right was considered a violation of personal freedom. The Music Council's activities were a reaction to the hypertrophy of sounds, experienced particularly strongly in cities. The shrinking areas of peace and quiet (the so-called "galenospheres") due to the excess of harmful sounds (noise) have become a serious medical, social, and political problem.

However, the phenomenon of silence can be considered in broader contexts that go beyond educational, medical, urban planning, or social (civic) activities. Silence has rich meanings: theological, philosophical, ritual, ethnographic, and others. More and more often, silence becomes the subject and matter for artistic activities undertaken by composers, sculptors, performers, and other creators.

The semantic field of silence goes far beyond acoustic definition. The polysemantic nature of the phenomenon of silence, its anthropological dimension, is evidenced by, for example, the word associations stabilized in the language.

In the academic year 2022/2023, we invite you to a seminar during which we want to listen to silence understood not only as an acoustic or musical phenomenon but as a cognitive metaphor and a symbol with many meanings. We have invited representatives of various perspectives (artists, culture experts, anthropologists, philosophers, acousticians) to talk about silence, assuming that such panoramic listening will enable in-depth reflection on the meanings and role of silence.

Practical information

The seminar is usually held on the third Tuesday of the month at 18.00. Meetings take place at the seat of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the Jagiellonian University (ul. Gołębia 9 in Krakow) or at Dom Utopii - International Center of Empathy (os. Szkolne 26A in Krakow). They also take the form of a webinar available via the link: https://tiny.pl/w42kf

The schedule of seminars, titles of speeches, and the list of invited guests can be found at: https://fonoteka.etnologia.uj.edu.pl/seminarium and on Facebook: https://fb.me/e/36nFGAV4t Recordings of the seminars are available on the Vimeo profile of "Fonoteka Etnograficzna": https://vimeo.com/user183228973

Organization

The team of organizers: Marcin Barski, Marcin Dymiter, Rafał Mazur, Łukasz Sochacki.

Main organizer: Department of Contemporary Cultural Practices of the Jagiellonian University.

Co-organizers: Utopia House - International Empathy Center, Soundscape Institute, Technical Acoustics Laboratory of AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Polish Ethnological Society, Audiosphere Studio of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Electroacoustic Music Studio of the Academy of Music in Krakow.