Summer of Theory 7: Sound & Noise
Victoria, BC • August 7–8, 2026 • Visual Arts Building
MC: Emile
About Sound & Noise
Sound and noise, as we encounter them here, are nonhierarchical, displaced, distributed otherwise than the coherences of classical theory. It maybe started in the kitchen of dissonance, when a poet became more supple with rhyme and put together discordant images to upset the order in the corridor, with morbid verse and sordid cares. We had then the scandals of Mahler and Schönberg, and many since.
Between sound and noise there is no stable border — only thresholds, context-dependencies, power relations, and ears sometimes quite far apart. Who decides what is music and what is interference? What gets to resonate, and what is dampened? These are not only aesthetic questions but political ones.
All presenters are asked to incorporate one or more sounds and/or noises into their presentation — performed, recorded, found, generated, or otherwise conjured. Presentations are encouraged to involve elements of “performance,” play, and collaboration.