Voice/ Presence/ Absence

An interdisciplinary conference on voice and the arts

Voice/Presence/Absence is an interdisciplinary conference organised by the Creative Practice and Cultural Economy Research Strength of the University of Technology, Sydney.

• Conference program (PDF, 617kB)
• Abstracts (PDF, 553kB)

The conference will explore new approaches to the study of voice in the context of arts and humanities, performing practices and new media.

The focus of the conference is:

• Voice in/and artistic practices;
• Voice and theory (philosophy, psychoanalysis, aesthetics, semiotics, gender studies, literary studies, reception theory etc.);
• Voice and technology (amplification, manipulation, recording and archival, technologies of the body, etc.);
• The relationship between theory and practice (in the performing arts, creative writing, media art, etc.);
• The relationship between voice and ideas of subjectivity.

From the experiments of the historical avant-gardes, through the experimental art of the mid 20th Century to the digital revolution, and throughout the developments of postcolonial studies and the so-called post-structuralist turn, theory and creative practices have engaged with voice, its use and its manipulations, in ways that configure a variety of complexly interwoven paths: Dada, Artaud, Bene, Lacan, Dolar, Derrida, Blanchot, Bakhtin, Cavarero, Portelli are only a few now canonical examples of thinkers and artists who contribute to the understanding of the human voice beyond the boundaries of their specific disciplines.

Voice/Presence/Absence is devoted to both the mapping of these intertextual networks and the articulation of original interdisciplinary frameworks to think voice in/and the arts today.

Workshop: Your own voice on the threshold to music

with Walli Höfinger & Christiane Hommelsheim

This workshop focuses on recapturing "music", out of the hands of the specialists of form and culture, trusting your intuitive competence in music, making it your own, finding your own sense of music, beyond virtuosity and style. You will have the opportunity to explore what "music" means within your voice, and how to allow your own music to emerge. The workshop will include deep physical and vocal preparation, individual lessons and group improvisation, where we will play with the connection of voice and body and voice and perception. We will move into new territory of our voices beyond the areas that we are habitually using. This workshop is open to all.

Workshop details