SSC Workshop with Josephine Hoegaerts and Tatiana Rosa

Speaking, Stammering, Singing, Shouting
What was considered a good, normal, or healthy voice in the nineteenth century?

In 1854, singing master Manuel Garcia became the first person to see the vocal cords at work in a human throat. Less than a decade later, surgeon Paul Broca identified what he called a speech center in the brain. The almost simultaneous invention of the laryngoscope and the discovery of Broca’s area present important turning points for how medical, musical, and other experts understood how the human voice works.

These developments did not occur in a vacuum, however. In Speaking, Stammering, Singing, Shouting, Josephine Hoegaerts describes the ambitious attempts, throughout the nineteenth century, to observe, understand, and manage human voices, as well as the host of more traditional, domestic, and stereotypical beliefs about the voice that continued to exist alongside these new insights. She peers into the stammering therapist’s office, over the singing teacher’s shoulder, and occasionally into the laryngoscope to see how something so simple—the sound Europeans produced when they opened their mouths—changed over the course of the nineteenth century.

Combining insights from medical and musical histories with methods from the fields of sound studies and the history of experience, Hoegaerts traces how people imagined human voices in the nineteenth century and how they used them. Rather than focusing on the great singers and orators of the age, the book looks at the mundane daily practices of singers, speakers, and stammerers and the people who trained and studied them. What did it take, according to all these increasingly specialized professionals, to have a normal voice in nineteenth-century Europe?

Bio
Josephine Hoegaerts is professor of European Culture after 1800, at the capacity group European Studies, where she teaches on questions of diversity, identity and political culture. Before coming to Amsterdam, she was Associate Professor of European Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and held various (visiting) fellowships at the University of Cambridge (CRASSH), the University of the Aegean, Birkbeck College, and the Conservatory of Leipzig. She obtained her PhD at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 2010.
Interested in the daily practices of citizenship, political participation and public speech, Josephine Hoegaerts has conducted research on the embodiment of authority in nineteenth century Europe, the histories of masculinity and disability, modes of colonial cultural exchange, and the importance of sound in and beyond parliament. Between 2018 and 2023 she led the research project CALLIOPE: Vocal Articulations of Parliamentary Identity and Empire (ERC StG).

Meta-Sonic Narratives

In recent years, environmental studies and object-oriented ontology have gained prominence, reflecting a growing recognition of the interconnectedness between human actions, natural processes, and non-human entities. This awareness calls for alternative ways of understanding and interacting with the world, recognizing that human knowledge and activities are inseparable from the environment around us. Collaborative systems, which do not adhere to fixed spatial or temporal boundaries, are seen as evolutionary and transformative. Yet, the role of technology in these collaborative, interconnected networks remains underexplored. While technological advancements like AI and smartphones shape our society, our relationship with technology often remains one-sided—humans design tools to fulfill their needs, only to encounter the limitations imposed by these same tools.Meta-Sonic Narratives explores the transformative potential of sound as both a methodology for inquiry and a medium for expanding our perception of the world. By embracing a non-cochlear-centric approach to the sonic, the project delves into frequencies and vibrations beyond human hearing —ultrasonic emissions, infrasonic waves, and resonances—opening new doors to the unseen and unheard dimensions of reality. These imperceptible phenomena are made tangible through technological infrastructures, fostering a collaborative environment where human and non-human voices become active participants in dynamic, resonant networks.

At its core, this project redefines technology as an extension of human creativity, advocating for tools that enhance collaboration rather than serve anthropocentric needs. Drawing from Ivan Illich’s concept of conviviality, Meta-Sonic Narratives views technology not as a dominating force, but as a co-creator within the natural world’s symbiotic systems. It acknowledges the material agency of non-human entities and explores how technological mediation can amplify the interconnectedness between humans and the ecosystems that sustain us, while also being an integral part of them.

The volatile nature of technological means—glitches, distortions, and limitations—becomes fertile ground for creative innovation. These unpredictable interactions, instead of being seen as failures, open new pathways for speculation and artistic exploration. By merging the digital with the natural, the project reshapes our understanding of environmental processes, positioning technology as a bridge to the hidden rhythms of the world. In this way, the work encourages a reconsideration of technology’s role, offering new opportunities for both creative expression and ecological insight.

Through this perspective, Meta-Sonic Narratives challenges traditional auditory boundaries and the hierarchical relationship between human and non-human actants. By accessing the vitality of inaudible processes, it renders the subtle dynamics of the environment perceivable and collaborative, creating a space where the voice of technology, alongside other non-human voices, shapes our engagement with the world. By embracing these interactions, the project fosters deeper ecological alliances, allowing new modes of perception, creation, and interconnectedness to emerge.

Bio
My artistic practice revolves around the empowering force of sound as an agency by utilising sonification processes and magnifying intersections between the sonic and non-sonic.
My work aims to subvert traditional data experiences and disrupt conventional uses of technology, in order to foster meaningful interactions, and address social inequalities through innovative art forms. I integrate interactive systems, multimedia and digital tools, focusing on both the literal and intuitive interpretation of data. By overlapping sound with other media, I create immersive and alternative asynchronous and/or synesthetic experiences that engage audiences on multiple sensory levels.
I view technology as an extension of human creativity and ingenuity that has not yet fully integrated the symbiotic networks of the natural world. By acknowledging the material agency and effectiveness of non-human or not-quite-human things, I explore how technology can become a seamless part of these networks, rather than an external or disruptive force.
My work delves into the unseen and unheard, expanding conventional boundaries of perception by utilising cross-sensory methodologies to translate these hidden dimensions into tangible experiences. By converting data into sound and integrating multimedia elements, I aim to reveal the latent narratives and dynamics within our environment.
Sound, in my practice, is not merely a medium but an event or phenomenon in itself, embodying the materiality of its sources and the spaces it traverses. Silence, too, plays a crucial role, acting as a space of fluidity, non-linearity, and internal reflection. It is a powerful element that shapes and defines the contours of sound, providing a backdrop against which sound can emerge and dissipate.

SSC workshops aim to provide a forum for any and all topics related to sound. In addition to presenting research-in-progress, we hope that participants will also use this space to share news or solicit feedback about new articles, performances, recordings, exhibitions, compositions, book proposal submissions, conference presentations, funding applications, book reviews, etc. Please let us know if you have work-in-progress that you would be interested to share with the group.