Topophony: soundscapes of Venice

Enrico Coniglio is a sound artist and composer whose interests lie in the aesthetic of the landscape. His research aims to investigate the loss of identity of places and the uncertainty of the territorial evolution, paying particular attention to the context around the Venetian lagoon. His approach has gradually honed in on the relationship between music and the representation of reality through the adoption of the definition of “topophony” and by developing the concept of “marginal areas” as a personal instrument of analysis of the contemporary sound-scape.

Nicola Di Croce is an architect, researcher, sound artist. A PhD Candidate in territorial planning and public policy he is currently doing post-Doctoral research at the Università Iuav di Venezia, one of the first Architecture Schools in Italy. His main field of investigation focuses on the relationship between urban studies and sound scapes. He is particularly interested in the collaborative and participatory approaches to analysis and planning of urban policies through the emerging methodology of sound and relational art, in urban planning and sociology. Sound is central to his artistic and academic research, and the practice of critical listening to the urban sound environment is the main vector he uses for understanding the emergence of urban questions tied to vulnerable contexts and actors.

Philip Samartzis is a sound artist with a specific interest in the social and environmental conditions informing remote wilderness regions. His practice is based on deep fieldwork where he deploys complex sound recording technology to capture natural, anthropogenic and geophysical forces. He is associate professor in Sculpture, Sound and Spatial Practice and teaches Sound Cultures in the Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) program at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). He is also artistic director of Bogong Centre for Sound Culture in the Australian Alps.