FN #4: 20/21 | Jan. 2021

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Eight years since its last issue Field Notes returns with a new design, and for the first time also accompanied by two (freely available) audio releases. In this all-new collection we present the writings and “audio-textual” contributions of Janko Hanushevsky (on the meaning behind every-day sounds and how they do play into his artistic work), Aleksandar Vejnovic (sharing memories about his ears capturing sounds from afar and how the microphone shapes the recording artist’s experience and work), Eli Neuman-Hammond (exploring the microphone-recorder as a creative tool and its role as a descriptive apparatus), and Ludwig Berger (on a long-form field recording that he captured in an abandoned structure in Zurich and the unequal perceptions one place can elict in different people).

Articles

Janko Hanushevsky: The Language of Sounds (Die Sprache der Geräusche)
Aleksandar Vejnovic: Listening Into Distance (Selected Memory Fragments as Word Gestalt)
Eli Neuman-Hammond: Descriptive Sounds + 4 Recordings
Ludwig Berger: White Elephant (Notes on an Entangled Field Recording) + 1-hour Recording

Collophon

Editors: Daniel Knef, Lasse-Marc Riek.
Contributors: Ludwig Berger, Janko Hanushevsky, Eli Neuman-Hammond, Aleksandar Vejnovic.
Translation: Ludwig Berger, Janko Hanushevsky, Aleksandar Vejnovic.
Images: Chiara Dollak, Michael Englert, Henry Hammond, Florian Koller, Matthias Volmer/scanvision.
Layout & Implementation: Daniel Knef.

FN #3: Traces | Aug. 2012

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Traces begins with Tom Lawrence’s fascinating and soon unsettling insights into Ireland’s largest wetland Pollardstown Fen and its ongoing destruction through men. Furthermore he describes his elaborate attempt to record the fen’s rich world of water beetles and talks about the startling discoveries he’s made. ♦ Regarding the question ‘Phonography: Art or Documentation?’ sculptor Scott Sherk examines the history of photography and its parallels to the developing world of phonography via selected historical imagery. ♦ From moments of excited listening in his childhood Jim Cummings carries us to the founding of his label EarthEar and his eventual step into scientific fields with the Acoustic Ecology Institute. ♦ ‘Something which lasts, passes by’ is Marcus Kürten’s diverse and diverting collection of (mostly) joyous hearing memories from 36 sound artists’ childhood days. ♦ Researcher Hein Schoer grants insight into his cultural soundscape project The Sounding Museum and the formation and reception of his soundscape composition Two Weeks in Alert Bay. ♦ The magazine closes with Budhaditya Chattopadhyay’s 3-monthlong hearing and recording journey through the sound-world of Bangalore – sharing his experiences, discoveries and thoughts.

Articles

Tom Lawrence: The Waterbeetles of Pollardstown Fen
Scott Sherk: Phonography: Art or Documentation?
Jim Cummings: My Ears will Never be the Same
Marcus Kürten et al.: ‘Something Which Lasts Passes By’ – A Collection of Hearing Memories
Hein Schoer: The Sounding Museum – Between Art and Science: Cultural Soundscapes in Museum Pedagogy
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay: Soundhunting in a City – Chronicles of an Urban Field Recording Expedition

Collophon

Editors: Daniel Knef, Lasse-Marc Riek.
Idea & Conception: Daniel Knef, Lasse-Marc Riek.
Contributors: Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Jim Cummings, Marcus Kürten et al., Tom Lawrence, Hein Schoer, Scott Sherk.
Correction/Lectorship: Tina-Lis Chavanon (German), Daniel Knef (German, English), Diana Richtsteiger (English).
Translation: Daniel Knef, Janko Hanushevsky, Marcus Kürten, Daniel Schiller, Marc Yeats.
Images: Pat Badt (portrait), Barbara Booth (portrait), Anja Brunsfeld (portrait), Indrajit Chatterjee (portrait), Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Daniel Knef, Hein Schoer, Scott Sherk, Thomas Siefert, Darren Smith.
Historical Photography: Eugène Atget, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Karl Blossfeldt, Robert Demachy, Gustave Le Gray, Charles Marville, Auguste Mestral, Eadweard Muybridge.
Layout & Implementation: Daniel Knef.
Font Family: Fontin Sans von Jos Buivenga.

FN #2: Listening, Documenting

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Our second issue features Marcus Kürten’s interview with the passionate phonographer Walter Tilgner, the second and final part of Stefan Militzer’s essay about “Tones, Sounds and Noises,” a collection of old Chinese texts regarding silence and noise – compiled by sound artist Lin Chi-Wei –, anecdotes by Yannick Dauby regarding his recording and hearing experiences with frogs as well as thoughts and reports based on Gabi Schaffner’s personal experiences with accidentally deleted or never recorded sounds from Finland. The magazine closes with an essay of the componist and sound artist Andreas Bick regarding the construction of meaningful correlations when listening – “listening is making sense.”

Articles

Gabi Schaffner: The Madness of the Documentarist
Walter Tilgner, interviewed by Marcus Kürten: The Nature-Sound Artist
Stefan Militzer: Tones, Sounds & Noises – Part 2: Policy of Sound
Yannick Dauby: Frogtales
Lin Chi-Wei: 2 Stories about Silence, 2 Stories about Noise
Andreas Bick: Listening is Making Sense

Collophon

Editors: Daniel Knef, Lasse-Marc Riek.
Idea & Conception: Daniel Knef, Lasse-Marc Riek.
Contributions: Andreas Bick, Yannick Dauby, Marcus Kürten & Walter Tilgner, Lin Chi-Wei, Stefan Militzer, Gabi Schaffner.
Correction/Lectorship: Tina-Lis Chavanon (German), Daniel Knef (German, English).
Translation: Tobias Fischer, Nicholas Grindell, Marcus Kürten, Lin Chi-Wei, Marlene Nagel, Paul Nutbrown, Gabi Schaffner, Daniel Schiller.
Photography: Peter Bretz (portrait), Anja Brunsfeld, Frank Chardès, Yannick Dauby, Heinz Peter Kapteinat, Marcus Kürten, Stefan Militzer (portrait), miroe (portrait), Heidrun Tilgner (portrait), Tsai Wan-Shuen (portrait), Xu Ya-Zhu (portrait).
Layout & Implementation: Daniel Knef.
Fonts: Fontin Sans von Jos Buivenga.

FN #1: Writings on Sound

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Our first issue features six articles, written by Costa Gröhn, Tanja Hemm, Christoph Korn, Stefan Militzer, Marcus Obst (aka Dronæment) & Aaron Ximm (aka Quiet American).

Articles

Christoph Korn: Reflections on Sound
Costa Gröhn: 8 Theses on Field Recordings
Marcus Obst: Unterbecken Markersbach – The Magic of Nature & Electricity
Stefan Militzer: Tones, Sounds & Noises – Part 1: A Small Typology of Sound
Tanja Hemm: Location, Sound, Listener, Listening – Thoughts on Site Specific Sound Installation
Aaron Ximm: Sound, Music, Art? – Searching for a Personal Aesthetic

Collophon

Editors: Daniel Knef, Lasse-Marc Riek.
Idea & Conception: Daniel Knef, Lasse-Marc Riek.
Contributions: Costa Gröhn, Tanja Hemm, Christoph Korn, Stefan Militzer, Marcus Obst & Aaron Ximm.
Correction/Lectorship: Tina-Lis Chavanon (German), Stefanie Göttel (English), Daniel Knef (German, English).
Translation: Tobias Fischer, Stefanie Göttel, Tamy Harutoonian, Julia Kowalski, Daniel Schiller.
Photography: Daniel Knef, Andrea Kroth (portrait), Stefan Militzer (portrait), Marcus Obst (Unterbecken Markersbach), Mirco Uhlig (portrait), Bronwyn Ximm (portrait) & Andere (Nitzschhammertal, portraits).
Layout & Implementation: Daniel Knef.
Fonts: Fontin Sans von Jos Buivenga & Charis SIL von SIL International.

Field Notes Magazine • 2008—2023.