Professor 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.
Ongoing Research Projects
• SONCITIES (ERC project on sonic urbanism)
• Scoring the City (workshop and exhibition series)
Books
2021. Ouzounian, G. Stereophonica: Sound and Space in Science, Technology, and the Arts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Edited Journal Issues
2017. Ouzounian, G. Guest editor, Evental Aeshtetics. Vol. 6, No. 1. Special Issue, ‘Sound Art and Environment’.
2016. Ouzounian, G. and Lappin, S. Guest editors, Journal of Sonic Studies. Vol. 11. Special Issue, ‘Recomposing the City’.
Peer-Reviewed Articles and Chapters in Edited Volumes
Forthcoming 2023. ‘Sound, Architecture, Resistance: Sonic Counterspaces.’ Architectural Review. Keynote Essay, Special Issue on Sound.
2023. Ouzounian, G. ‘Counterlistening’. English Studies in Canada. Special Forum on Interdisciplinary Listening. ESC 45.2-3: 53-59.
2023. Ouzounian, G. ‘“Our voices reached the sky”: Sonic Memories of the Armenian Genocide.’ In J. Smolicki, ed., Soundwalking Through History. Routledge.
2022. Ouzounian, G. ‘Becoming Air: On Sonic Spatial Metaphysics.’ In D. Diederichsen, A. Raffeiner, and J. St. Werner, eds. Sound – Space – Sense. Berlin: Haus der Kulturen Welt. Das neue Alphabet / The New Alphabet series.
2021. Ouzounian, G. ‘The Sonic Undercommons: Sound Art in Radical Black Arts Traditions’ in J. Grant, J. Matthias and D. Prior (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Sound Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2020. Ouzounian, G. and De Visscher, E. ‘Resonant Bodies: A discussion about listening in museums’ in G. Kafka, ed., Sonic Urbanism: The Political Voice. London: Theatrum Mundi, pp. 39-45.
2020. Ouzounian, G. and Bingham-Hall, J. ‘The Acoustic City’. ELECTRA Magazine 9, pp. 201-207.
2018. Ouzounian, G. ‘Notes from the Underground: On Resonant Spaces at Dartmouth College.’ Exhibit Catalogue. Resonant Spaces Exhibit. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, USA.
2018. Lappin, S., Ouzounian, G. and O’Grady, R. The Sound-Considered City: A Guide for Decision-Makers. Illustrated guide and Advice Note for city planners. Illustrations by Ryan O’Reilly. 45 pages. Belfast: Recomposing the City.
2017. Ouzounian, G. ‘Rethinking Acoustic Ecology’. Editorial. Evental Aesthetics 6 (1): 4-23.
2017. Ouzounian, G., Haworth C. and Bennett, P. ‘Speculative Designs: Towards a Social Music’. Proceedings of the 43rdInternational Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2017). 15-20 October 2017. Shanghai, China.
2017. Ouzounian, G. ‘“The world of matter has become a Great Nerve’: Feedback in Experimental Music and Sound Art.’ Exhibit Catalogue. singuhr hoergalerie, Berlin, Germany.
2017. Ouzounian, G. ‘Timescapes: Reflections on The Present Instant’. Exhibit Catalogue. The Present Instant. Platform Arts, Belfast.
2016. Ouzounian, G, Knapp R. B., Lyon E., DuBois, R. L. ‘To be inside someone else's dream: On Music for Sleeping & Waking Minds’ in Alexander R. Jensenius and Michael Lyons (eds.), A NIME Reader. New York: Springer, pp. 405-417.
2016. Ouzounian, G. and Lappin, S. ‘New Directions in Urban Sound Art’. Editorial. Journal of Sonic Studies 11. Special Issue, ‘Recomposing the City’. Online.
2014. Ouzounian, G. and Lappin, S. ‘Soundspace: A Manifesto’. Journal of Architecture and Culture 2(1): 305-316.
2014. Lyon, E., Knapp, R. B., and Ouzounian, G. ‘Compositional and Performance Mapping in Computer Chamber Music: A Case Study’. Computer Music Journal 38(3): 64-75.
2014. Ouzounian, G. ‘Sound Art’ in Michael Kelly, ed. Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, 2nd Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 27-31.
2014. Ouzounian, G. ‘Acoustic Mapping’ in The Acoustic City (eds. Matthew Gandy and Benny Nilsen). Berlin: Jovis: 165-174.
2014. Ouzounian G. ‘Poème électronique’. Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism.
2014. Ouzounian, G and Papalexandri-Alexandri, M. ‘Correspondences’. Current Musicology 95: 33-54.
2013. Ouzounian, G. ‘Recomposing the City: A Survey of Recent Sound Art in Belfast’. Leonardo Music Journal. LMJ 23: 47-54.
2013. Ouzounian, G. ‘Sound Installation Art: From Spatial Poetics to Politics, Aesthetics to Ethics’ in Georgina Born (ed.), Music, Sound and Space: Transformations of Public and Private Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 73-89.
2011. Ouzounian, G. ‘The Uncertainty of Experience: On George Brecht's Event Scores’. Journal of Visual Culture 10(2): 198-211.
2011. Ouzounian, G. ‘The Luminous Ear: An Introduction to the Sounding Visions of Paul DeMarinis’ (English with German translation) in I. Beirer, S. Himmelsbach, and C. Seiffarth (eds.), Paul DeMarinis: Buried in Noise. Heidelberg and Berlin: Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg: 9-21.
2009. Ouzounian, G. ‘Impure Thinking Practices and Clinical Acts: The Sonorous Becomings of Heidi Fast’. Organised Sound 14(1): 75-81.
2008. Ouzounian, G. ‘History, an Exit Strategy: The RetroFuture Fabulations of kara lynch’. Journal of the Society for American Music 2(2): 177-201.
2008. Ouzounian, G. ‘Contemporary Radio Art and Spatial Politics: The Critical Radio Utopias of Anna Friz’. RADIO Journal 5(2&3): 129-142.
2007. Ouzounian, G. ‘Visualizing Acoustic Space: The Story of Poème électronique’. Revue Circuit 17(3): 45-56.
2006. Ouzounian, G. ‘Embodied Sound: Aural Architectures and the Body’. Contemporary Music Review 25(1-2): 69-79.
Interviews
Forthcoming 2023. Ouzounian, G. ‘Urgent Listening: A Conversation with Hardi Kurda.’ Openwork Journal.
2022. Ouzounian, G. ‘Aftersound: A Conversation with Mhamad Safa.’ London: The Showroom.
2022. Ouzounian, G. and Meireles, M. ‘Lockdown Sonics: A Conversation’. In G. Kafka, ed. Crafting a Sonic Urbanism: Listening to Non-Human Life. London: Theatrum Mundi.
2020. Ouzounian, G. ‘Hearing Power: A Conversation with Haig Aivazian.’ Flash Art, Listening In column, ed. B. Piekut.
2016. Lappin, S. and Ouzounian, G. ‘Sonic Places: In Conversation with Peter Cusack’. Journal of Sonic Studies 11. Special Issue, ‘Recomposing the City’. Online.
2010. Ouzounian, G. ‘An Interview with Paul DeMarinis’. Computer Music Journal 34(4): 10-21.
Reviews
2009. Ouzounian, G. ‘Bay Area Women in Creative Music’. [Review]. Women & Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture (13): 106-108.
Her research interests include experimental practices in music and sound art; urban sound; sound and space; and new technologies in music. She is the author of Stereophonica: Sound and Space in Science, Technology, and the Arts (MIT Press 2020), and has contributed articles to leading journals of music, art, and architecture, including Computer Music Journal, Organised Sound, Leonardo Music Journal, Journal of Visual Culture, Journal of Architecture & Culture and Journal of the Society for American Music. She serves on the editorial board for the Journal of the Royal Musical Association and is assistant editor of Evental Aesthetics.
