Gascia Ouzounian
Gascia Ouzounian is a historian and theorist of sound, working at the intersection of sound studies, architecture and urban studies, and science and technology studies. She is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor in Music at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
Her first book, Stereophonica (MIT Press), examines how the understanding of spatial sound and hearing evolved in relation to sound technologies, experimental music, sound art, and scientific studies in acoustics and psychoacoustics from the 19th century to the present. It connects diverse histories, including early stereo technologies, the rise of binaural listening, WWI listening devices for aircraft detection, WWII psychoacoustic research, postwar sonic-spatial practices in art and music, and the mapping of urban soundscapes.
Ouzounian’s forthcoming book, The Trembling City (MIT Press), explores cities as vibrational territories shaped by forces of warfare, occupation, and mass violence. Drawing from fields like forensic architecture, critical urbanism, and sound studies, this book offers a radical reinterpretation of cities as sites of vibrational and sonic force reflecting broader power structures and histories of violence.
Ouzounian is also editing a volume on critical and experimental approaches to sonic architecture and urbanism, featuring contributions by architects, urbanists, and sound practitioners. This volume builds on her work with architect and historian Sarah Lappin in Recomposing the City and her ERC-funded project, Sonorous Cities: Toward a Sonic Urbanism (SONCITIES), which brings together scholars and practitioners to investigate urban soundscapes and experiment with sonic modes of urban analysis and design. Projects from these initiatives, such as Scoring the City (on experimental urban notations), Concrete Dreams of Sound (on sonic materialities), and Quiet Urgency (on urban sonic ecologies) have been held in cities including Beirut, Berlin, London, Belfast, and Yerevan, in partnership with institutions like DAAD, Sursock Museum, and Theatrum Mundi.
Other research interests include sonic memories of the Armenian Genocide, counterlistening, and gender in sound art. Ouzounian’s work has been published in Computer Music Journal, Organised Sound, Leonardo Music Journal, Journal of Visual Culture, Journal of Architecture & Culture, Journal of the Society for American Music, and Resonance Journal, among others. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the Royal Musical Association and Cambridge University Press’s Music and the City series.
As a violinist, Ouzounian has performed internationally at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Dream House (NYC), Modern Art Oxford, and the BEAM Festival. She has also composed all-night works for sleeping audiences, including Music for Sleeping & Waking Minds, a piece where sleeping performers generate music through their brainwave activity.
At Oxford, Ouzounian has taught courses on Acoustic Cities, Sound and Space, Sound Art and Environment, and the History of Experimental Music. She holds degrees in music technology and violin performance from McGill University and a doctorate in critical studies and experimental practices in music from the University of California, San Diego. (2023)
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