Voice, sound, technology and binaries: an audio essay featuring Sasha Geffen

Produced by: Aimée Theriot-Ramos, Alex Harris, Constanza Castagnet, Luca Soudant, Margaux Koch

The producers came together because of a mutual interest in sound. We were interested in how we listen and how sound is being used in its own materiality to foster experimental and border-crossing ways of making and thinking. At the end of 2020, we started a small online reading group where each one of us proposed a book they wanted to read. One of them was Sasha Geffen’s book "Glitter up the Dark", which explores the intersections of gender, pop culture, the body, and technology. We reached out to Sasha and asked if they would be interested in collaborating with us. The following audio is composed by a mix of excerpts from their book, Sasha’s own voice, songs, samples, and voices from our friends.

About Sasha Geffen:
Sasha's work has appeared in Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR, and others. Their writing focuses on the interplay between gender, pop culture, the body, and technology.

References in order of appearance:
_Lucy Liyou - "Unnie"
_Excerpt from Geffen, Sasha. Glitter up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary. First edition. American Music Series. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2020.
_Dua Saleh - "umbrellar"
_Sasha Geffen’s voice I
_Eidsheim, Nina Sun. The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music. Refiguring American Music. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019.
_Paul Preciado: 2018-11-27 Conversation with Paul B. Preciado: 
_Colin Self - "Transitions"
_Sasha Geffen’s voice II
_Holly Herndon - "Frontier"
_Sasha Geffen’s voice III
_Lyra Pramuk on pitch-shifting
_Desire Marea - "Tavern Kween"
_Sasha Geffen’s voice IV
_Excerpt from Geffen, Sasha. Glitter up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary. First edition. American Music Series. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2020.
_Holly Herndon - "Frontier"

(This contribution was commissioned by the Editorial Board of extracurricular programmes at Rietveld/Sandberg, as part of series Future Practices)

Sounds Beyond Binaries

„Snowblindness Podcast Series“ part of a research-project by Gudrun Havsteen-Mikkelsen in collaboration with Anna Bierler exploring different narratives on colonial pasts and myth-making in relation to a contemporary design practice. „Snowblindness“ tries to reflect on the methodologies in a design discipline; how to get access to information, how to make material public and finally how to edit, debate and visualize ’collective memory’ in- and outside the work. The 'Snowblindness' research is situated in colonial moments in Greenland, where Gudrun's great-grandfather was a Danish explorer, scientist, captain and colonizer, who marked his agenda in books, maps and people, and contributed to the ’collective memory’.

Snowblindness x Carmen Dusmet Carrasco was broadcast live on April 16, 2021: "Let’s talk about what it means to collaborate with your mum - working with relatives in artistic processes"

Carmen Dusmet Carrasco is a Spanish visual artist and designer based in The Hague and recent Sandberg Design Department graduate. Between 2018 and 2020 she produced "The Swimming Pool", a documentary staring her mother where she asked questions such as 'how can younger generations take care of the elderly while safeguarding their own future?'. Music composed for the movie by Lola de la Mata.

Snowblindness x Carmen Dusmet Carrasco

Snowblindness Podcast Series is part of a research-project by Gudrun Havsteen-Mikkelsen in collaboration with Anna Bierler exploring different narratives on colonial pasts and myth-making in relation to a contemporary design practice. Snowblindness' tries to reflect on the methodologies in a design discipline; how to get access to information, how to make material public and finally how to edit, debate and visualize ’collective memory’ in- and outside the work. The Snowblindness research is situated in colonial moments in Greenland, where Gudrun's great-grandfather was a Danish explorer, scientist, captain and colonizer, who marked his agenda in books, maps and people, and contributed to collective memory. 

Snowblindness x Inuuteq Storch was broadcast live on April 30, 2021: "Let’s talk about what it means to find something and use it - working with archives and photography to highlight forgotten narratives"

Inuuteq Storch is a Greenlandic photographer and visual artist, based in both Denmark and Greenland who graduated in 2016 from the International Center of Photography in New York. In his practice Inuuteq focuses on memories and narratives from Greenland. For the last three years he has been working with footage from public archives.

Snowblindness x Inuuteq Storch

Radio broadcast from 5/10/21 at Fanfare with graphic design students from 1st and 2nd year. This is the result of a collaborative learning session from Radio Rietveld and Andrea González, enabled by fanfare in the framework of a longer workshop linking visuals to sound.

awɪ sɔː ðə saʊnd (I saw the sound)

Broadcast from 8/10 recorded in Fanfare with graphic design 1st and 2nd year students for the closing of the awɪ sɔː ðə saʊnd (I saw the sound) exhibition.

Closing of awɪ sɔː ðə saʊnd (I saw the sound)

First episode of research on the intersection between text and sound. With the participation of students from TXT department and Basic year.

E1 Audiolinguistic Textures

Second episode of research on the intersection between text and sound. With the participation of students from Graphic Design, TXT and Architectural Design.

E2 Audiolinguistic Textures

mall rat - fernanda

A trip without a ticket number one. One hour of psychedelics, experiments and electronics selected by @simonmonmonmonmonmon for Radio Rietveld.

Simon - A Trip That Doesn't Need A Ticket

(B1) 00:14
Driver: Joseph
Country: Kenya
Car: Toyota Camry
Company: Karwa
Singer: John De Mathew
Song: Song Kihara (Kikuyu Song)

(B2) 06:35
Driver: Mohammad Sharifullah
Country: Bangladesh
Car: Honda CR-V
Company: uberX
Singer: Malay Ghosh
Song: Majhi Baaia Jao Re

(B3) 11:39
Driver: Vikraman
Country: India
Car: Honda Accord
Company: uberX
Singer: Anuradha Paudwal
Song: Man Mera Mandir Shiv Meri Puja

(B4) 16:12
Driver: Jabir
Country: Nepal
Car: Toyota Yaris
Company: uberGo
Singer: Milan Lama
Song: Galkote Sailo

(B5) 23:37
Driver: Kwabena
Country: Ghana
Car: Toyota Camry
Company: Karwa Silver
Singer: Nana Kwame Ampadu & his African Brothers Band
Song: Kofi Nkrabea (Kofi Fate)

Side B

Andrea Salerno

Related tracks