Between Control and More-than-Human Events: The Listening Experience in the Light of Speculative Pragmatism

Authors

  • Henrique Souza Lima
  • Gustavo Branco Germano
  • Lílian Campesato
  • Lucia Nogueira Esteves
  • Marina Mapurunga
  • Valéria Bonafé
  • Vicente Reis

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.419

Keywords:

listening, individuation, becoming, event, information warfare

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation into the relationship between listening and power in the context of information warfare through the theoretical framework of speculative pragmatism. The main objective is to investigate the possibility of thinking of the listening activity as a particular act of thought through the concepts of lived abstraction and subjectless individuation. For doing this, the first part of the article describes the relationship of reciprocal presupposition between current online information warfare and the production of a subjectivity tied to a narcissistic regime of subjection. The second part of this article describes the concept of lived abstraction, such as elaborated by philosopher Brian Massumi. The third part of this article consists of investigating the epistemological core of speculative pragmatism through Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of subjectless individuation, particularly the individuation of an event. In the last part, we speculate a possible understanding of listening as an act of thought that is potentially articulated outside the noological register of narcissism through the appreciation of a mode of artistic operation that work in a way of designing listening experiences.

 

Article received: April 18, 2020; Article accepted: July 1, 2020; Published online: April 15, 2021; Original scholarly paper

 

Author Biographies

Henrique Souza Lima

NuSom: Research Center on Sonology; University of São Paulo
Brazil

Henrique Souza Lima (b.1987) is a Brazilian scholar and artist. He holds a PhD in Arts from the University of São Paulo-Brazil and an MA in Philosophy from the Federal University of Ouro Preto-Brazil. He is a professor in the Phonographic Production course at the University Anhembi Morumbi. His articles focus on the intersections between sound studies, philosophy, music education and audiovisual aesthetics.

 

Gustavo Branco Germano

NuSom: Research Center on Sonology; University of São Paulo
Brazil

Gustavo Branco Germano (b.1992) is a PhD student at the University of São Paulo and holds a Bachelor in Music Education and an MA in Music from the same institution. His current research project focuses on the relationships between art and documentation in Brazilian field recording practices. In his Master’s dissertation, he investigated an understanding of listening as a compositional act with particular emphasis on musical works that don’t involve the intentional production of sound. He is a member of NuSom – Research Center on Sonology.

 

Lílian Campesato

NuSom: Research Center on Sonology; University of São Paulo
Brazil

Lílian Campesato (b.1981) is a Brazilian artist, scholar, and curator. She holds a PhD from the University of São Paulo, with a thesis on the process of the aestheticization of noise in music. She works mainly in the following areas: sound studies, experimental music, sound arts, and feminisms. Her texts discuss noise, experimentalism, and counter-hegemonic discourses in these fields. As an artist, she explores voice and performance. She is a research fellow at NuSom-USP and activist with the Sonora network – Music and Feminisms.

Lucia Nogueira Esteves

NuSom: Research Center on Sonology; University of São Paulo
Brazil

Lucia Nogueira Esteves (b.1991) is an undergraduate student in Music at the University of São Paulo-Brazil. She holds a degree in History from the same university. She works as a researcher in the areas of musical composition, sound studies, and audiovisual. She is also a researcher at NuSom – Research Center on Sonology. She coordinates the Sonora network –Music and Feminisms.

Marina Mapurunga

NuSom: Research Center on Sonology; University of São Paulo
Brazil

Marina Mapurunga de Miranda da Ferreira (b.1987) is a PhD student in Music at the Universidade de São Paulo. She holds an MA in Communication from the Universidade Federal Fluminense. She works as a researcher in areas of sound studies and audiovisual. She is a researcher at NuSom – Research Center on Sonology and an activist in Sonora network – Music and Feminisms. She is a member of the Orquestra Errante. She teaches at Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia (Cachoeira, Bahia), and is coordinator of the SONatório – Laboratory of experimentation in sound.

Valéria Bonafé

NuSom: Research Center on Sonology; University of São Paulo
Brazil

Valéria Bonafé (b.1984) is a composer and researcher. She has a BA in Music Composition, an MA and a PhD in Music/Musicology. She studied at the University of São Paulo and at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. Her more recent research and creative work deal with sound and image, memory and affect, orality and autobiographical space, listening, and feminism. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at NuSom - Research Center on Sonology and an activist in Sonora: music and feminisms.

Vicente Reis

NuSom: Research Center on Sonology; University of São Paulo
Brazil

Vicente Reis de Souza Farias (b.1989), is PhD student in Music at Universidade São Paulo, and holds an MA in Communication at Universidade Federal da Bahia. He works as a researcher in areas as sound studies, game studies, game sound and audiovisual. He is a researcher at NuSom – Research Center on Sonology; and teaches at Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Bahia-Brazil.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.419 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.419

Ivana Bašić, I will lull and rock my ailing light in my marble arms #2, 2017

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Published

15.04.2021

How to Cite

Souza Lima, H., Branco Germano, G., Campesato, L., Nogueira Esteves, L., Mapurunga, M., Bonafé, V., & Reis, V. (2021). Between Control and More-than-Human Events: The Listening Experience in the Light of Speculative Pragmatism. AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (24), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.419

Issue

No. 24 (2021): Issue No. 24, April 2021 – Main Topic: How to Do Things with Speculative Pragmatism: Pedagogy, Politics, Philosophy

Section

Main Topic: How to Do Things with Speculative Pragmatism: Pedagogy, Politics, Philosophy

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