Marie Čtveráčková is a sound artist, curator, and music journalist, and a co-founder of Synth Library Prague.

Her contribution, Depths of Listening and the Waves Between Notions, invites symposium participants to a walk through a soundscape accompanied by a discussion on sound and the role of listening in artistic practice, activism, and everyday processes of relationship-building.

Even today, sound may still be perceived as elusive, abstract, and magic — despite the so-called sonic turn having taken place quite some time ago. The invitation to listen can still appear as a call to something banal or overly esoteric. Yet, the history of sound art and sound studies teaches us to understand sound, sonic creation, and the potential of listening to speak — to become aware of their power, their socio-political context, and the hierarchy of the senses. Feminist practices, Indigenous epistemologies, and perspectives beyond the narrow yet dominant experience of the global human minority can all serve as inspiration for such an approach.

The sound artist and philosopher Pauline Oliveros not only called for “deep” and mindful listening but also pointed to our underdeveloped vocabulary for describing sonic experiences and the qualities of sound. What can be said about sound — and where do we resist speaking to it? When does sound render speech redundant? Whose voice can be heard, and whose can we truly listen to? How do structures of power speak through the acts of capturing and artistically processing sound? What sound waves move us to action? And can new concepts transform the political as well as the poetic layering of sonic landscapes?

AVU Doctoral Symposium 2025

Programme