hungry listening: sounds connected to consumerism so listening could be looked at in terms of colonialism and consumerism. many decolonial thinkers insist that we cannot only think of the human in this regard – the human is part of nature and produces an anti-western mindset. taking the sole focus off the human is central to this and how we can rethink sound in this regard.
the anthropocene: this concept agues that we are human centred – humans are transforming everything – the environment, economies and influencing all aspects of life and nature. many indigenous peoples displaced the human from the centre of all things. for example scroll drawings of the Anishinaabe peoples indicate humans as the smallest in these representations because they are the ones acted upon by the forces of nature.
Nils Aslak: we also need to attune our ears to the voices of the non human. in his work, this Finnish writer, musician, artists started an ambitious project where he created the bird symphony – using bird sounds, stones, reindeer etc to create a musical piece. it shows the musicality of this environment.
Pauline Oliver: in her piece ‘ dissolving your ear plugs, she pushes us to listen beyond and outside ourselves.
Cornelious Cardew ‘ Scratch Orchestra’: we can also look at pieces that take away the individual perspective and looks at group and mass culture, such as fan culture. political radical composer – he trained and untrained musicians – anyone could join. he also used graphic scores. he wanted to be radical using sound to shake things up. there was always a space for improvisation which again plays with rules and non rules.
idle no more movement: a deliberate staging of protests in public gathering spaces (e.g. shopping malls) to disrupt consumerism. is there a universal song and dance that can be seen as a protest through celebration? this spread through out other parts of the world and called attention to policy and laws on consumerism and rights. it highlights the sound of consumerism and the random and active listener.
David H Katzive ‘art by telephone’: influenced by moholy-nagy’s constructivist era where he telephoned in instructions to a factory indicating that the artists does not have to be physically involved in art making, Katzive invited conceptual artists with specific rules – the artists had to leave specific instructions on the telephone recording on how to make their specific works, which were then made and exhibited and then destroyed so that all that remains is the recordings of the instructions. it brings the voice of these artists who are considered conceptual and puts them back in the body through the voice.
Martin Jay ‘downcast eyes’: here he looks at intellectual history of art and the dominance of the eye and vision on art - oculis-centralism. writers, such as Sartre and Garay, feminist theory argue that western culture relies heavily on sight and text. therefore sound and voice can be a resistance to this using it for expression and liberation.
Mel Chin ‘jam d jam’: he asks what are the sounds of everyday life and how can they be used as a collaborate project? everyday sounds are recorded on phones and everyday devices and then built upon and evolve into new sounds which people can tune in to and listen to live – a collective, creative musical production.
elaine crowe 
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