Sound-Frameworks
My work emphasises a parallel focus on working with sound and thinking through sound to realise public spaces and collective encounters in which sound is considered in relation to experiential, social, architectonic, infrastructural and civic form.
Dr. Sven Anderson is currently working with Theatrum Mundi to develop Sound-Frameworks: Collaborative Frameworks for Integrating Sound Within Urban Design and Planning Processes, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions individual fellowship that explores how to introduce critical considerations of sonic experience within the design of the public realm. Sound-Frameworks extends Theatrum Mundi’s exploration of sonic urbanism, enacting a discursive space to accelerate dialogue between artists, architects and urban designers and to advance an understanding of how sound and listening can influence the design of our cities.
The fellowship will evolve through three phases between 2021 and 2023, encompassing a sound in practice survey, a publication that explores emerging modes of practice and a design tool that can be used to guide considerations of sound in the context of new projects. These outputs will support artists, architects, acousticians, urbanists and community organisations that want to activate sonic experience in the design of real-world projects.
UK Holocaust Memorial (London, 2017)
Sven’s research with Theatrum Mundi builds from his previous collaborations and public artworks, which explore opportunities to embed sonic cues at early stages of architectural and urban design processes. Sven’s work emphasises a parallel focus on working with sound and thinking through sound to realise public spaces and collective encounters in which sound is considered in relation to experiential, social, architectonic, infrastructural and civic form.
Sven has established durational sonic enquiries with collaborators ranging from regional authorities to interdisciplinary design teams, from architecture firms to local communities. His approach is action-led, establishing participatory frameworks such as publicly-controlled urban sound installations (Continuous Drift, 2015 – ) and ambiguously-defined community spaces (The Office for Common Sound, 2016 &; 2019) to encourage diverse stakeholders to engage with each other through considerations of sound and listening.
The roots of Sven’s tactics can be traced to the work of the Artist Placement Group (APG) and the expanded practice of Max Neuhaus, while his methodologies integrate current perspectives established through contemporary sound studies and critical spatial practices.
Sound-Frameworks is supported by partnerships with Arup (UK), UrbanIdentity (CH), Struer Kommune (DK), the University of Oxford Faculty of Music (UK) and the Sound Studies Lab at the University of Copenhagen (DK). Sound-Frameworks has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101032632.
