“If you subtract human perception, everything moves.” – Steve Goodman, Sonic Warfare: Sound Affect and the Ecology of Fear

Code of Contingency explores whether sound, as a learning device, has the potential to open up new pedagogical frameworks. Taking its cue from the improvisational ethics of Cornelius Cardew, the dissipative systems theory of Isabelle Stengers, and the critical thinking developed by Paul Freire, the show investigates process-oriented, anti-anticipatory learning through and when people engage with sound. Here, collaboration between object and viewer, teacher and student, performer and attendees are key for developing a dialogue. As such, code does not play the role of a set of rules or parameters to guide the viewer’s interpretation, rather, it is a notational device used to make sense of knowledge production.

The works included in Code of Contingency convey cues of glitches, clicks, growls and burps. These sounds are the product of digital, analogue and biological systems that cross aesthetic boundaries, united together in choral melodies. The artists included often compose through technology, such as sonic detours through the Internet, or working with data that is sonified with live local power consumption stats. Some artists work with organic material, including experimenting with the ecology of the body, or are reacting to political scenarios where the vocal presence of opinion is essential.

To open feedback channels, the participating artists will host a series of workshops that will raise critical questions about politics, biology, microbial agency, the currency of time, circuit bending, audio ecologies and the energy that powers it all.

Participating Artists: Jamie Allen, Taeyoon Choi, Stephen Fortune, Bernhard Garnicnig, Giuliano Obici, Call & Response, and Tom Richards.

Code of Contingency is a curatorial project initiated by Lisa Baldini and Sarah Jury in September 2010. Sarah Jury is an international curator based in London. She is the director of The Pigeon Wing and editor of Arc magazine, Her writings can be found in Aspidistra, Countersituation and Flee Immediately! Lisa Baldini is an international curator based in New York. Her writings have appeared in Rhizome, PSFK and most recently Flee Immediately! She is a founding member of the MAIM Collective.