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Sound Working Group Report
OISTAT Congress, Prague June 2007
Rick Thomas
Head, Sound Working Group
The Sound Working Group has been focusing its energies exclusively on preparations for the 2007
Prague Quadrennial. The Associate Head of the Sound Working Group, Steven Brown has taken
charge of the preparations for the Sound Events at Scenofest, and has organized a great group of
Sound Working Group members to create a memorable Scenofest. Joe Pino is curating the Second
International Sound Design and Music Composition Exhibition; Dave Tosti-Lane is producing the
Digital Media for the event. Nancy Tobin, Eileen Smitheimer, Davin Huston, Veronika Vorel, Gregg
Fisher, Janne Auvinen and Kimberly Bizjak are all providing support for the event.
The Sound Working Group is planning twenty-two workshops, presentations and events. Guest
Presenters also include many Sound Working Group members. German composer and director
Heiner Goebbels will lecture on the interface between artistic practice and scientific experience.
Russian Composer and Director, Igor Drevelev will present a session on The Scenography of Sound,
and London Sound Designer Ross Brown will present a workshop on Noise Memory Gesture, The
Theatre in a Minutes Silence. From Australia, Dr. Kevin Purcell will present a workshop on
Designing Auditory Aura with The MaxStage and Basil Hogios will present a lecture on Theatre
Sound and Architectural Dreamspace. Legendary UK sound designer John Leonard will share his
thoughts on life, sound and the theatre in a special lecture, An Afternoon with John Leonard. Hong
Kong Sound Educator Chris Johns is hosting the Sound Educators Seminar, while London Sound
Designer Chris Schutt will present a session on The Music of Sound and Philippine sound designer
Jethro Joaquin will discuss Theatre Sound Design: A Communal Process.
John Taylor of sponsor d&b Audioteknik will present a session related to Sound System Design. UK
based Robin Whittaker will do a presentation on TIMAX audio matrix processors. Paul Gillieron will
demonstrate a new ambisonic platform for sound design, AudioScape 3D, and Curtis Craig from the
US will lecture on the most amazing musical instrument ever invented, the human voice. Gregg
Fisher will lead a roundtable discussion on archiving sound designs. Finally Jaume Ferrete and
Bram de Jong will lecture on a phenomenon that will surely be of interest to OISTAT members, The
Freesound Project, an international collaborative database of creative commons licensed sounds
that artists may use for free.
Visitors entering the PQ from the long tarmac main entrance will be able to create sound and
improvise acoustic performances with a collection of mechanical devices used for the creation of
sound effects in years gone by. A couple of examples include a wind machine, a rain maker and a
sound tree (see pictures below).
An exciting experiment created by the Sound Working Group will take place at the Masarykovo
Railway Station on Monday, June 18th. Teams of sound designers, with participants stationed at
the railway station in Prague, and others stationed at various locations throughout the world, will
collect and perform collaborative soundscapes at the railway station, thus using the theme of
transportation to embody the “transporting” of sound art across many countries and continents.
Finally, the Sound Working Group will conduct its annual meeting in Prague, and begin to develop
its plans for World Stage Design, and the next few years of the group. We are deeply indebted to
all of our members for all of their great efforts to make the 2007 Prague Quadrennial a success, but
most especially to Steve Brown, without whose tireless efforts, the exciting sound programming
that is about to unfold at the PQ could not have taken place.
Updated September 2007