Divest UMW Oral History Tour

A small town on the Potomac

The last time we did a live, fully public Noise Awareness Day was in 2018. Now, we're back, addressing the subject of confinement and containment with sound and art. Maria Gaspar is a Chicago-based artist whose 96 Acres Project "deconstructs" the social impact of Chicago's notorious Cook County Jail. She gave my sound art (AVT 3740 students sounds recorded from actual prison bars recovered as one of the units was being demolished. They have used those recordings to collaboratively create a liberating art. Their mid-semester composite soundscapes are also a part of this walk.

George Mason University Sound Art Students | Final Projects | AVT374.001 The sound art students of AVT 374 have created a GPS-assisted virtual sound art festival. To participate you need only install the app, insert your earbuds, and find our sounds! Original audio works by: 01) Celeste Cortes 02) Amani Jefferson 03) Kevin Jones 04) Lexie Keys 05) Bianca Misterio 06) Will Owens 07) Kelsey Pappas 08) Noah Schieber 09) Sara Syarto 10) Diana Vargas Antezana 11) Marcos Velasco 12) Becca Williams supervised by Professor Thomas Stanley (a/k/a Bushmeat Sound) ******************************** "The soundscape makes accessible, audible and thinkable, alternative states of affairs that allow us to rethink and relive the materiality and semantics of the real world through the possibility of sonic life-worlds that include affection, sentiment, fear, and angst and all those things that fall out of objectivity." -- Salomé Voegelin ********************************

Like in August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Thousands of people gathered in Washington DC for the event that commemorated the 1963 civil rights March on Washington and in protest at police violence. Called the Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks - a reference to the death of George Floyd, who died in May after a policeman knelt on his neck for several minutes - it follows renewed protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

​Hydrology explores the diverse sonic properties of aquatic ecosystems that cover over 70% of Earth’s surface. The sounds have been recorded using hydrophones (underwater microphones) in freshwater and marine ecosystems across the planet. The featured soundscapes include snapping shrimp on coastal reefs in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve of Mexico, melting ice in Norway’s Kvina River and Humpback Whales along the Queensland coastline. This piece also connects with the voices of water protectors and river communities across the world. Hydrology in Washington, DC has been created for the Earth Optimism Summit, April 21-23. Earth Optimism celebrates a change in focus from problem to solution in the area of global conservation with an unprecedented gathering of thought leaders, scientists, environmentalists, artists, civic leaders and international media. Hydrology is created by Leah Barclay Tweet @LeahBarclay for questions

After a severe storm surge in the future, the elevated water table has turned the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden into a marsh habitat. The sunken garden has been colonized with new cacophonous forms of life, making trouble for the garden’s caretaker who maintains the sculptures amid the destabilizing changes. Join the caretaker on this GPS-located fictional audio story that overlays the presently well-groomed Sculpture Garden with the dissonant sounds of future disruption.

Welcome to Sound Walk Tour's first tour! This is a pilot program developed by a history graduate student so if you find it and like it, send me an email! Not recommended for children under the age of 13 The first stop is at Q St NW & 27th St NW, Washington, DC 20007. To get there, I recommend taking the red line to Dupont and either walking or taking the D2 bus to that location.