The concept of ‘Soundscape’ appeared in the sixties in the work of the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer- reaching a larger audience in 1973 through the World Soundscape Project and in the book The Soundscape - Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, published in 1977.

Even if one disregards his naturalistic approach to the idea of a landscape, there remains in Schafer’s work an obstinacy to make art out of what is perceived as sonic nuisance — an important step which laid the foundation of an attitude that is still alive among scholars and composers today.

More than 30 years on, the programme Soundscape Forever revisits the concept with an original series of sixteen pieces by international artists (Michael Batalla, Yannick Dauby, eRikm, Xavier Fassion, Zoe Irvine & Mark Vernon, Damien Magnette, Patrick McGinley aka Murmer, NG, Etienne Noiseau, Jean-Philippe Renoult, Kassian & Ulrich Troyer, Els Viaene, Chris Watson). The artists were invited to work on the concept of soundscape from multiple approaches in order to go beyond notions such as frame, panorama, perspective, cartography, in its rural and/or urban dimensions.

These aspects function as creative starting points capable of opening up new territories: the works propose new approaches to this genre central to sound art: experiencing tangible space-time, integrating acoustic and architectural contexts, exploring the social and human dimensions of the landscape. Because in the end, landscape always brings us back to those who dwell in it.

Founded by atelier de création sonore radiophonique in Brussels, SilenceRadio.org is a listening space dedicated to the diversity of contemporary creative radio. SilenceRadio.org offers audio pieces, from composed works to “rough” recorded material in many genres (radio art, documentary, sound poetry, drama, phonography, field-recording, soundscape etc.). Furthermore, SilenceRadio.org collaborates with a number of cultural radio programs, forming a network of artists and radio diffusers who exchange artistic contents to be broadcasted.

Listen to Chris Watson’s new piece, commissioned by SilenceRadio and KunstRadio. — Sonia Dermience (join the SilenceRadio.org group on Facebook]