Cities And Memory

Phonophany, or the All-Revealing Medium dramatises the manifestation of occult and hidden mediation processes present in both audio technologies and Zande magic practices. As a composition, it works from a field recording of a Zande revelation song used to detect witches, employing audio mediation to allow the listener to experience a progressive unfolding of the recorded voice from initially unintelligible, noisy signals. In doing so, the work reflects on how to move beyond preconceptions of audio as a purely documentarian medium that simply “captures” reality. Rather than treating sound recording as transparent representation, the composition foregrounds mediation itself — specifically in the form of electromagnetic noise — as a way of listening oriented toward gradual aural revelation. This approach seeks to expand the capacity of audio media and recording technologies to articulate concepts and probe the audio field, thereby reframing our perception of media and their sensory environments.Phonophany, a t