Workshop on Health and Environment with Ján Solčáni

Date: October 31st, 2024  
 
Facilitator: Ján Solčáni 
 
The EM GUIDE project hosts 14 internal workshops. These workshops are meant to help the project staff, and occasionally other contributors of the network, to acquire, improve, and exchange skills and knowledge relevant to the participating magazines and/or the network itself.  

Workshop aims and contents:  

The workshop, titled Health and Environment examined the power of sound in societal control and oppression. Participants explored questions like how the song of whales connects to nuclear fears and how pop and children's songs can serve as psychological tools. Through case studies and listening exercises, the participants of the workshop studied how sound and music have historically been used to manipulate and dominate.  

The session also addressed the health and environmental impacts of acoustic dominance, considering cultural factors that shape our perception of sound. By analyzing diverse soundscapes, the participants gained new perspectives on the socio-political, colonial, and ecological dimensions of music as both a tool of power and resistance.  

About the facilitator:  

Ján Solčáni's practice moves between the positions of curator, sound artist and theorist. He is interested in the phenomena of culture that can be perceived and expressed through sound. He is the organiser of the lecture series on contemporary art practice and theory Videogram, co-founder and curator of the music label Skupina, curator of the sound archive Unseen, and editor of the magazine on new media and culture ¾. Additionally, he manages the activities of the Roman Radkovič Collective. Currently, he is completing his PhD at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno, Czech Republic.    

The cover picture is a still from the series Adventure Time season 8 episode 10.