Soundscapes of the Urban Past

Staged Sound as Mediated Cultural Heritage

Karin Bijsterveld

• Publisher: transcript Verlag
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9783837621792
• eBook ISBN: 9783839421796
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Museum Studies

We cannot simply listen to our urban past. Yet we encounter a rich cultural heritage of city sounds presented in text, radio and film. How can such »staged sounds« express the changing identities of cities?

This volume presents a collection of studies on the staging of Amsterdam, Berlin and London soundscapes in historical documents, radio plays and films, and offers insights into themes such as film sound theory and museum audio guides. In doing so, this book puts contemporary controversies on urban sound in historical perspective, and contextualises iconic presentations of cities. It addresses academics, students, and museum workers alike.

With contributions by Jasper Aalbers, Karin Bijsterveld, Carolyn Birdsall, Ross Brown, Andrew Crisell, Andreas Fickers, Annelies Jacobs, Evi Karathanasopoulou, Patricia Pisters, Holger Schulze, Mark M. Smith and Jonathan Sterne.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Editorial Board
• Contents
• Sound Studies
• Contents
• Introduction
• Shifting Sounds. Textualization and Dramatization of Urban Soundscapes
• Why Historians of the Auditory Urban Past Might Consider Getting Their Ears Wet
• Sounds Familiar. Intermediality and Remediation in the Written, Sonic and Audiovisual Narratives of Berlin Alexanderplatz
• The Chirping of a Little Bird. Some (Film) Theoretical Reflections
• Sonic Artefacts. Reality Codes of Urbanity in Early German Radio Documentary
• Radio Documentary and the Formation of Urban Aesthetics
• Soundscape, Landscape, Escape
• The Corporeality of Listening. Experiencing Soundscapes on Audio Guides
• The Eleventh of the Eleventh of the Eleventh. The Theatre of Memorial Silence
• Authors
• List of Illustrations