TY - JOUR

T1 - “The spaces of sight and sound”–Containment, feedback, and contingency in R. Murray Schafer´s acoustic ecology

AU - Haffke, Maren

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - In the 1970s, the World Soundscape Project (WSP) around the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer popularised the term “acoustic ecology” to examine specific interrelations of sound, space, perception, and technology. What was implied when Schafer and his colleagues referred to their project as “ecology”? Where is the historic project of acoustic ecology located epistemologically with regard to other theories of art, media, and ecology? It is my contention that the WSP´s work with cybernetic concepts in their media practices offers answers to these questions. Focusing on Schafer´s reception of Marshall McLuhan´s concept of “acoustic space”, this article examines Schafer´s practices through the lens of two media theories: thinking through questions of containment and care the paper analyses how Schafer conceptualises modes of adaptation between hearing and the surrounding world. Schafer´s exercises for modulating perception via “Ear Cleaning” are explored as specific strategies to manage contingency–treating the relationship of environment and perception as something that can and should be changed. With a focus on Schafer´s seemingly contradictory perspective on tape recordings demonstrated how his practices operationalise a technological openness that his theories both rely on and deny. For it is totality, not contingency that Schafer claims.

AB - In the 1970s, the World Soundscape Project (WSP) around the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer popularised the term “acoustic ecology” to examine specific interrelations of sound, space, perception, and technology. What was implied when Schafer and his colleagues referred to their project as “ecology”? Where is the historic project of acoustic ecology located epistemologically with regard to other theories of art, media, and ecology? It is my contention that the WSP´s work with cybernetic concepts in their media practices offers answers to these questions. Focusing on Schafer´s reception of Marshall McLuhan´s concept of “acoustic space”, this article examines Schafer´s practices through the lens of two media theories: thinking through questions of containment and care the paper analyses how Schafer conceptualises modes of adaptation between hearing and the surrounding world. Schafer´s exercises for modulating perception via “Ear Cleaning” are explored as specific strategies to manage contingency–treating the relationship of environment and perception as something that can and should be changed. With a focus on Schafer´s seemingly contradictory perspective on tape recordings demonstrated how his practices operationalise a technological openness that his theories both rely on and deny. For it is totality, not contingency that Schafer claims.

KW - acoustic ecology

KW - care

KW - Containment

KW - media studies

KW - Media and communication studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105013272091&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/20551940.2025.2539009

DO - 10.1080/20551940.2025.2539009

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:105013272091

JO - Sound Studies

JF - Sound Studies

SN - 2055-1940

ER -