A sonic experience where the audience sits blindfolded is returning to Cornell March 23 for a 6 p.m. performance in Sage Chapel.
The World According to Sound, a duo who were artists-in-residence on campus in the fall of 2019, will visit Cornell with their new show, “Ways of Knowing,” as part of a 25-campus tour across the country this spring highlighting “the spirit of academic inquiry.”
“This is a compilation of things we’ve been working on over the last 10-12 years, a ‘best of the World According to Sound’ show,” said Chris Hoff ‘02, one of the producers. “And it’s an introduction to this perspective for people who might not consider themselves sound aficionados or sound studies people.”
“The humanities give us new ways to understand the things we think we know,” said Sam Harnett, another producer, adding that a focus of the show is breaking down some of the artificial barriers between the sciences and the humanities. “The arts and sciences are about pursuing different ways of knowing. The show is an exercise in using sound, which is often neglected or overlooked, as a way of knowing.”
During the 75-minute experience, audience members will hear the vibrations of the Golden Gate Bridge, footsteps of ants, recordings of typewriters and sounds from the middle of a choir. The show also includes ideas, essays, books, theories and contemporary research translated into soundscapes.
The performance will be followed by a Q&A with co-producers Hoff and Harnett.
During their stay on campus in 2019 as part of Cornell’s multidisciplinary Media Studies Initiative, Hoff and Harnett met with professors whose research focuses on sound and media.
They explored Cornell’s music and sound-based collections and discovered an array of other sounds related to the university’s broad areas of study. They recorded fish, frogs, Latin speakers, particle accelerators, organs, synthesizers, ice skates and even dirt. Some of those sounds are also part of this new show.
Hoff and Harnett also collaborated with the Media Studies Program on a “Media Objects” audio documentary and host a podcast, “Ways of Knowing,” about various topics within the humanities, which they’ve done in collaboration with various universities.
“It’s great to be connecting again with the World According to Sound,” said Jeremy Braddock, professor of literatures in English and chair of Cornell’s Media Studies Initiative. “They have a long history of collaborating with us at Cornell, and together we’ve found new ways of expressing the depth and reach of our research. The Sage Chapel performance should be unforgettable.”
While the shows on the tour have a basic foundation, the pair said the Cornell show will have some customization because of all of the material they recorded here.
“It’s super-intersectional,” Hoff said. “There are people from all corners of campus included, not just the sound or music people, but scientists, astronomers, philosophers.”
Audience members have told the duo that certain sounds “dig memories out of the crevices, things that have kind of been lost,” Hoff said, recalling a woman who said a song during the show brought back a memory of her mom from 50 years ago, while the sound of mud pots (a geothermal feature) made another listener think of stews and good cooking.
The March 23 show is free, but audience members should reserve a spot here.
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