Sonic Spaces. The Past and Future of Broadcasting and Recording Studios.
Since 1922, when the first provisional studio was set up in what was then the Ministry of Transport, radio has been produced on the broadcasting site near Munich Central Station. Almost 100 years ago, in June 1929, the first radio building in Germany was opened in Munich. This was soon to be followed by many more studios throughout the country. The most recent addition to the Munich broadcasting buildings was a 20-storey office building in 1976.
The symposium is now taking the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Munich Funkhaus and the planned demolition of the 1960s studio building as an opportunity to encourage interdisciplinary and participatory research into the buildings and their historical and future use.
The history of studios in the 20th century is full of changes. How were studios built - as acoustically isolated and sonically designed spaces, as control centers for programming and logistics, as public spaces for audiences, as places for production, collaboration and encounters? Who used them - at the microphone, at the mixing desk and in the control room, in editorial offices, in sound editing, in archives and libraries? How were they technically designed and how did they influence technical development? How were they operated - by technicians, artists, producers, by state, public or private broadcasters, by which political, economic and social actors? How did the studios influence the public and cities and what input did they receive from them?
Radio and recording studios have a wide variety of forms and technologies, depending on the "sonic spaces" (Jonathan Sterne) and the sound they produce. In the middle of the 20th century, European public broadcasters were proud to unite products from a variety of studios - for speech, radio drama, music from soloists to large orchestras, equipped with the latest technologies. Since the end of the century, with advancing digitalization, smaller production teams and cross-media content, questions about the spatial necessity of the studio have been posed anew. - What is the relationship between the program, interpretations and production facilities? How is the audience represented? How do structural design, information architecture and distribution channels relate to each other? What separates sound and image in studios,
what do they have in common? What created stability, what differentiation, what had a flexibilizing effect? How can historical studios, their acoustics, technology and production logistics be documented?The history of building and operating studios has long been accompanied by a history of conversion and dismantling, repurposing, demolition and, most recently, new construction. Many studio buildings are listed buildings. The history and future of the studio require interdisciplinary and participatory research in order to do justice to the broad social significance of radio and culture. At the same time, this research can serve to pave the way for the continued use of the studios with broad public participation.The organizers invite submissions from the fields of architecture and heritage conservation, (electro)acoustics, computer-aided content generation, cultural studies, musicology and the history of technology, as well as other fields related to the topic. Innovative methodological contributions, all media formats as well as workshop and best practice reports and concepts dealing with participatory research and the public and private reuse of broadcasting buildings are also welcome.
Please send us an abstract of 300-400 words (without bibliography) and a short CV to the following addresses by 16.09.2024:Hanns-Erik Endres dnb@he-endres.deAndreas Putz putz@tum.deDaniela Zetti daniela.zetti@uni-luebeck.de
Notification of acceptance (by e-mail): 30.09.2024.Duration of the presentations: 20 minutes for the presentation and 20 minutes for the discussion.The symposium will take place on November 20 and 21, 2024 in Munich. The working languages of the conference are English and German. Presenters are asked to prepare slides in the other language for their presentation. We aim to publish selected contributions.
Organised by Andreas Putz (TU Munich), Daniela Zetti (University of Lübeck), Hanns-Erik Endres (Denkmalnetz Bayern).
Comments