Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Chris Hoff '02 and Sam Harnett have spent the semester on campus just listening – listening to fish, frogs, Latin speakers, particle accelerators, organs and synthesizers, ice skates and even dirt.

The duo, creators of "The World According to Sound" radio show and podcast and Cornell artists-in-residence, shared what they've found during four live audio shows Nov. 20-21 at the Flex Theater in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

Hoff and Harnett are on campus this semester as part of Cornell's multidisciplinary Media Studies Initiative, which supports research related to the interdisciplinary field of sound studies, as well as courses, graduate groups and a monthly colloquium. The initiative also supports conferences, including two this year – "Siren Echoes," Nov. 7-9 and "Media Objects," March 20-21, 2020.

During the semester, Hoff and Harnett met with professors whose research focuses on sound and media and explored Cornell's sound-based collections and music. They've discovered an array of other fascinating sounds related to the university's broad areas of study.

Along with their research, Hoff and Harnett have worked with various classes and groups on campus, including students in the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity. They did a recording workshop with the Milstein students, then sent them out to various locations, on campus and off, to record an evening chimes concert.

"The idea was to make a simultaneous recording of one specific and iconic event at Cornell from many different perspectives," Hoff said. "The sonic landscape at 6 p.m. on Ho Plaza is dominated by the chimes, but in Collegetown they're ever so faintly audible, and instead the sounds of traffic and people talking dominate." These sounds will be in the November shows.

During the shows, Hoff and Harnett set up a ring of speakers, pass out eye masks, shut off the lights and surround participants with sound. The events, at 5 and 8 p.m. each night, are free, but space is limited and tickets are available on Eventbrite.

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