Sound Studies Lab

CALL FOR PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS:

Why does everyone listen to ambient music?

It dawned on me early last year that a number of very different people, from very different backgrounds and of very different ages and social classes, are surprisingly united these days by their love of listening to at least one genre of ambient music. Whether at work or during yoga, while commuting or relaxing at the weekend or in the evening, as a temporary calming agent to horrific ecocide and societies slipping mindlessly into fascism, or simply as a wholesome listening experience: ambient music seems to be one of the hidden champions these days.

I asked myself: Why does this genre have a kind of ubiquitous majority appeal in the 2020s? How do all the ways of producing, distributing and consuming ambient music relate to each other? Are new practices of production, distribution and consumption emerging? Which of these practices are particularly relevant across the planet, especially in the global south?

Together with Ulrik Schmidt, who has written a fascinating “Philosophy of Ambient Sound” (2023), we invite all practitioners and researchers, composers and scholars, producers and thinkers to join us in this endeavour to understand better how the genre of ambient music actually functions in this century?

With a deadline of June 1st, 2025, 12pm CEST we ask you to propose a presentation that could address, for example, one of the following areas

- local ambient music scenes all around the planet
- ambient music and digital streaming platforms
- distribution of ambient music
- technologies for ambient music
- mood regulation and affective control
- subgenres and hybrids (e.g. Dark Ambient, Lowercase Ambient, Witch House, Isolationist Ambient, Goblincore...)
- ambient uses of music in architecture, art, design and film
- ambient music in social media and audiovisual media

You can propose either a research paper, an audio paper or an ambient music presentation.

From the 15th to the 17th of September 2026, the conference will be hosted by our partner, the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.

Please see our full Call for Paper for details of presentation formats, deadlines and contact details:

Call for papers: The Ambient Music Conference Conference.

As every semester, the Sound Studies Lab offers a series of online presentations and workshop-style discussions under the title "Colloquium Sound and Sensory Studies" - open to all interested inm, thinking with, or working in sound and sensory studies. We meet every second week, on Tuesdays, from 15.15 to 16.30, this semester starting on February 11.

This colloquium was actually held for the first time in 2007 (sic!) at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 2020 - you can guess why ;) - we moved the colloquium completely online, to Zoom. We have stayed on Zoom ever since because: this format allows us to welcome around 10-20 scholars, usually from at least three continents.

Some of the topics our scholars will be discussing and presenting this semester include

- European Dance Music Cultures and Sound (May 20)

- A Participatory podcast from the Alpine village of Cevo, Italy (April 9)

- Listening Habits and Non-Linear Temporalities (March 11)

- Sound Studies and Sonic Methodologies in Russia since the 2010s (March 25)

- Poetic Voice in Contemporary (Polish) Poetry from the Perspective of Sound Studies (February 11)

All the dates and abstracts for all the presentations this semester you can find right here, as always:

Calendar 11 Feb. 2025, 15:15-16:30 The Voice "in Action" Presentation by Katarzyna Ciemiera (Jagiellonian University, Kraków, PL).

In June 16-24, 2025 we offer an intensive course, funded by the ERASMUS Mobility program, on SONIC SENSIBILITIES / SOUND CITIES.

Participants can learn and practice in two courses in Trondheim, Norway, to deepen understanding of how ecologies of the natural and built environment are shaped by sound and the ways in which sonic sensibilities are articulated.

While the first course, Sonic Sensibilities, explores sonic knowledge in classrooms and everyday experiences, the Sound Cities course examines urban ecologies and related possibilities for sustainability.

We are:

Walter S. Gershon, Rowan University, USA

Sunniva Hovde, Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)

Roger Norum, University of Oulu, Finland

Holger Schulze, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

You find all the details about the course and how to apply (15 students max.!) at this link:

ERASMUS Course: Sonic Sensibilities – Sound Cities Together with three international scholars and three international universities, we are offering in June 2025 an intensive course, funded by the ERASMUS Mobility program: Participants can learn and practice in two courses …Continue reading