Dear all, For several weeks now we have been living through a particularly difficult and tragic period with the global pandemic that is directly affecting us. This situation is upsetting our perceptions, our habits and our certainties. It is at the same time a radical and unexpected questioning of social, economic and spatial models and the revelation of the world from unsuspected angles that may open up some perspectives for reflection and action for future transformations as for an analys of this situation. The action proposed aims to set up a world observatory based on sound, of which cartophonies.fr is one of the tools.

Sound is an important revealer of moods for some of us. The objective is to understand how our environments and the ambiences we experience change as a result of changes brought about by confinement. However, we all live in very different places, in particular neighbourhoods and under specific conditions, confined for many of us, we are confronted with living the ambiences in a new way. Our windows, balconies, loggias and terraces, if we have them, become one of the modes of immediate contact with the outside world, that of our neighbours and of the city, just as for those who live in the city, windows and balconies become remarkable transmitters. Since March 30 we have already proposed to our fellow researchers in the AAU laboratory to make simultaneous sound recordings from their windows open to the outside on specific days and at specific times to create a coordinated corpus of recordings from this direct interface between our confined interiors and the hollow city.

Therefore this call is addressed to all of you who are interested in these phenomena to participate in a global observation from their windows, balconies, loggias and terraces if they have them where they live, by recording 4 minutes 33 seconds of their sound environment at precise times (local time: 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm) over one day on APRIL 19, 2020, all or several of these hours. The duration of 4 minutes 33 seconds refers to John Cage time during which a performer plays in silence for four minutes and thirty-three seconds, this duration is actually made up of sounds from the environment that the listeners hear or create when the piece is performed. Silence” is therefore a moment of listening, and our cities have become a different kind of listening material during this crisis.

All these recordings can be compiled on the “cartophonies.fr” website provided that they are : -geolocated gps under the mode 45.8790 / 7.98789 – .wav format or equivalent, sampling if possible 48Khz, stereophonic is better -attach one or more photos of the situation (no video), looking out from the inside -precise the recorder and microphone used, avoid non-stereophonic smartphones -give the location of the microphone (height, position in relation to the window or balcony, facade) -Record a short observation specifying the moment experienced and the remarkable differences with the situation before this crisis (customs, sound composition, link with other senses, weather of the moment, …), The notes can be written in french, english or spanish You can go to www.cartophonies.fr to see how to file a sound and what information is required.

To deposit a sound it must have an url address for it, otherwise you can send them by specifying in the filename your name and the recording time to : cressonwinterschool@grenoble.archi.fr Yours sincerely, hope you are well Grégoire Chelkoff ENSAG Professor / Researcher CRESSON AAU