Sound and the City—The Anthology
13 Oct 2007
By: Yan Jun and Louise Gray, Editors
Sound and the City—The Anthology
http://www.britishcouncil.org/china-arts-music-satc.htm

Sound and The City was an innovative sound art project, conceived by the British Council and realised across China between 2005-2006. Seven leading UK sound artists—Brian Eno, David Toop, Peter Cusack, Clive Bell, Scanner, Kaffe Matthews and Robert Jarvis—were invited to create new work inspired by the civic sound environments that they found in four cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangzhou. The artists’ experiences are documented in this book, along with essay contributions from UK and Chinese critics.

The project also invited the Chinese general public to describe their favourite sounds of the cities that they live in. Those descriptions, along with audio recordings, are contained within the book and accompanying CDs. Many of those favourite sounds are ambient ones, less and less frequently heard as Chinese society changes at its current ferocious pace.

200 page book (English and Chinese) + 2 audio CDs, Edited by Yan Jun and Louise Gray. Published by Horizon Media in Beijing, China.

"Sound And The City might be termed an intimate art project. It speaks to the general public, not the selected public, instead of being proudly ahead of it’s time, it intervenes in the lives of the contemporary Chinese public; it encourages people to feel and share, rather than criticize or display miracles. The seven UK artists who made projects for Sound And The City have composed sounds in the most environmentally friendly ways. They invite us to listen again to our own cities and our lives. We have made this book because we want to share and listen with more people." – Yan Jun

Discussion (Descriptions, reviews, discussion):