UTOPIAN NOISE INDEX

Human culture is built on auditory experience, where sound is not just heard but felt, and deeply understood. This project is an attempt to curate a selection sound, through ideas of utopia. Each entry, whether an ambient composition, an essay, or a disco track represents a disruption in larger systems of power. From the ideas of radical peace, and slowness inspired by ambient music, and radio stations such as St Giga [01]. To the birth of techno in Detroit [02], a genre that emerged as a response to the economic and social conditions of the city during that time. This index represents a curation towards a way to imagine a different world through sound. It is a selection of voices that acted as noise to the systems at large.

UNI’s mission is to preserve the legacy of the musicians, writers, and more who have contributed to the idea of creating a world of sonic legacy, and harmony. Artist like Brian Eno, who coined the term Ambient Music [03] in 1973, which led to artists such as Grouper [04] who creates ethereal layers inspired by Eno’s thoughts. But past music alone, the index is also interested in preserving new ways to think of sound and the body, like the Laughter Workshop [05] led by Laraaji or the Aeolian Interface Project [06], which aimed to bridge new ways to generate sound through nature.

This index celebrates the pioneers of sound who have thought in radical ways of creating moments of peace, and who have pushed the boundaries of what is musically possible. UNI aims to give voice to researchers and scientists, such as the scientists who research the phenomenon of the singing sands [07] that add to the humbling aspect of nature. Or the Chladni plate archive, which is used to demonstrate the various modes of vibration on a rigid surface. UNI also hopes to celebrate artists working with generative music [08] to platforms rethinking media structures, the curation offers new possibilities in the world of noise, and sound.