Broadcast Biographies: Innovations in Genre and Medium (1945–2020); FWOAL1050
Examining British and West-German broadcast biographies (1945–2020), this project comparatively argues that radiophonic life-writing remediates biographical conventions while reflexively interrogating radio’s institutional and archival memory. Through archival research, close listening, and audionarratological analysis, it theorises the radio biography as a site of genre innovation, cultural memory work, and media (self-)historicisation.
Research Team: Prof. Inge Arteel · Prof. Birgit Van Puymbroeck · PhD Fellow Iana Nikitenko · Talent for Research Student Kim Liesa Wolgast
Funding: Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
Sonic relationality: building empathy with the critically endangered European eel in the Scheldt Estuary
This artistic research project aims to explore how and whether ecological sound art can be purposefully developed to forge meaningful connections between listeners and the aquatic environment. Focusing on the critically endangered European Eel in the Scheldt Estuary, the study adopts a practice-led, artistic approach to examine the concepts of multispecies storytelling, data-driven composition, and empathic listening.
Through sound-based artistic practice and qualitative methods, the project investigates the transformational potential of ecological sound art on listeners’ beliefs, perceptions, and emotions. Applying a hydrofeminist lens, it positions the eel as a locus for exploring broader interspecies relationships within marine ecosystems. The outcome of this study is to expand understandings of how sonic practices can mediate our relationships with endangered marine life, contributing to a renewed perspective on their transformational potential.
PhD Fellow: Lotte Nijsten
Supervisors: Prof. dr. Katarzyna Ruchel-Stockmans · Prof. dr. Free De Backer
Funding: Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
Liquid Polyphonies (2024)
Liquid Polyphonies is a sound composition that invites the listener on an acoustic journey throughout the polyphonic soundscape of the North Sea.By weaving together anthrophone, biophone, and technophone sounds, and by searching for sonic analogies between the human and non-human through a combination of voice recordings, foley recordings, and field recordings, Lotte and Gillis create an electro-acoustic composition that emphasizes the interconnectedness between human and non-human entities at sea.
Artistic team: Lotte Nijsten · Gillis Van der Wee
With the support of: GMEM Marseille · Phonurgia Nova
Booreiland (2022)
This artistic project is a transdisciplinary performance that explores the tension between our deep-rooted belief in endless economic growth and its consequences for the ecosystems of the North Sea.Combining audio documentary, text, image, field recordings, field notes, and live sound composition, Lotte Nijsten and Gillis Van der Wee create an intimate portrait of the fragile relationship between human activity and marine life.
Artistic team: Lotte Nijsten · Gillis Van der Wee · Thomas Van Walle · Fleur Roggeman
Funding: Flemish Government (Kunstendecreet) · SABAM for Culture · De Grote Post and Het Nieuwstedelijk
With the support of: Cas-Co Musica · Maakleerplek · Het Nieuwstedelijk
Obscuur (2021)
Obscuur is a collection of sound poems that reflects on the urban underground and the practice of sonic awareness and architectural listening. Beneath the surface of the city lies a world of hidden sounds. Transformed and shaped by the inner structures of the city, these sounds are the echoes of urban life. If we listen carefully, we can hear the rhythms and flows of the city resonating through the acoustic spaces of the underground.
Artistic team: Lotte Nijsten · Gillis Van der Wee
Funding: Flemish Government (Kunstendecreet) · Atelier de Création Radiophonique et Sonore
