Landscapes/Soundscapes
A Two-Way Artistic Exploration of Urbanism and Music
The artworks below by Jacopo Grilli are provided as a reference for the research project and do not constitute part of the anticipated outcomes.
Amit Gur
Amit is a researcher and composer based in Amsterdam. He is a professor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and a faculty member at the Universiteit Antwerpen, where his Ph.D. research, supported by an FWO fellowship, focuses on bridging visual and auditory perceptions, while also composing music for various contexts including museums, ensembles, and films, with an upcoming commissioned work for the State Holocaust Museum of the Netherlands.
Contact: Amit Gur
Jacopo Grilli
Jacopo Grilli is an urbanist and multidisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam. He employs a unique visual language to contemplate contemporary spatial issues, mediating design processes among city makers to offer alternative solutions. With his practice, Jacopo contributes to exhibitions, design, and philosophical processes, alongside his roles as an independent urban designer, artist/performer, and teacher/collaborator at the Academy of Architecture of Amsterdam
Contact: Jacopo Grilli
Introduction
Urbanism and Music are seemingly distant disciplines, yet they surprisingly share common notions. A notable example is ‘texture’. In musicians’ discourse, texture commonly refers to a domain of musical organisation that does not change over time. For example, think of the constant auditory quality of wind chimes, a drone sound, or a musical accompaniment pattern (also referred to as accompaniment texture). In Urbanism, there is a similar notion known as 'Urban fabric', which refers to the common characteristics of a built environment, including streetscapes, architecture, roads, squares, and so on. At first glance, we can already see how similar these notions are: while Musical Texture has to do with a common quality characterising the music over time, Urban Fabric has to do with the commonalities of a city’s built environment, but in a spatial context. Other notions that exist in both disciplines include Composition, Form, Harmony, and more specific terms like Lines and Objects.
The proposed research project aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange between Music and Urbanism. Initially, by developing a theoretical framework to discuss the common notions listed above. Second, by creating an audiovisual exhibition where both makers take inspiration from each other’s discipline. Lastly, based on the theoretical and artistic work, we will offer a seminar for students in Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Amsterdam Academy of Architecture dedicated to exploring further artistic and design-based collaboration between makers in both disciplines.
Research Planning and Outcomes
Theoretical part
Developing a theoretical framework to facilitate cross-disciplinary discussions on Urbanism and Music. The theoretical framework will be provided in the form of a booklet, intended for later use in pedagogical contexts (see below). The booklet will include around 20-25 pages in A5 format.
The primary objective is to elucidate notions shared between the two disciplines (Texture/Fabric, Harmony, Form, Line, Object, and more.)
The creation of this framework will take inspiration from psychology in an attempt to understand how the listed notions manifest in both domains, Musical and City design, as perceptual phenomena. The framework will draw partly from Amit Gur’s Ph.D. research, 'Form and Material in Visual and Auditory Perception,' focusing on conceptual and empirical tools for explaining form and material properties in both visual and auditory perception. The Ph.D. is completed and its defense will take place during the next academic year 2024/5. Download the abstract.
Artistic-Research part
‘Imaginary Cities’: An audiovisual exhibition (planned date: February 2025; location: TBA)
Jacopo and Amit will collaborate on an audiovisual exhibition dedicated to the creation of imaginary cities. The primary objective of the project is to explore how musical creation can draw inspiration from the analysis of urban aesthetics, and conversely, how urban design can be influenced by music. The exhibition will feature five paintings, each accompanied by a musical composition. Visitors will be able to listen to the music through headphones. Ideally, we would like to present it for 3-4 weeks (location: TBA).
Pedagogical part
Landscapes/Soundscapes: A cross-disciplinary seminar for Architecture and, Music students in AHK, dedicated to exploring paths for collaboration between Urbanism and Music. Planned for academic year 2025/6.
Based on the theoretical and artistic parts of our research project, we will offer a workshop for AvB and CvA students. While our general plan is to do a three-day workshop for 5 architecture and 5 music students, we will consult about this and other practical details with our academies. Location: TBA.
References and Sources of Inspiration
The listed sources already inspired our ongoing discussion; as the project progresses, we will naturally enrich the list.
Form and Material in Visual and Auditory Perception (Amit Gur’s Ph.D. dissertation, 2024).
This research offers conceptual and empirical tools to explain the perceptual phenomena of form and material in visual and auditory perception. Download the abstract.
Kubovy, M., & Van Valkenburg, D. (2001). Auditory and visual objects. Cognition, 80(1-2), 97-126.
An important paper offering a methodology to explain the notion of an object in visual and auditory perception.
Southworth, M. F. (1967). The sonic environment of cities (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
An important work that draws analogies between landscapes and soundscapes in cities (famously, the term soundscapes was coined in this paper)
Kandinsky, W., & Rebay, H. (1979). Point and line to plane. Courier Corporation.
A classic work by Kandinsky dedicated to explaining his artistic methodology. We find this work inspiring and relevant to ours.
Kevin Lynch (1960).The Image of the City ISBN: 9780262620017.
We use this book as a main source to explain the notion of Urban Fabric.
Sounds in the Cities
A Montreal-based research group dedicated to studying and creating sonic environments in cities.
