Sławomir Wieczorek, PhD, graduated in cultural studies and musicology. He is a lecturer at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Wrocław. Member of the Soundscape Research Studio, editorial staff of the journals: “Res Facta Nova” and “Polish Soundscape Journal.” Author of the book On the musical front: socialist realist discourse on music in Poland 1948–1955 (Wrocław University Press 2014), coeditor of the book Sounds of War and Peace. Soundscapes of European Cities in 1945 (Peter Lang Verlag 2018). His interests focus on the history of twentieth-century music and soundscapes.
Sonic Ecology and a Big City. The Soundscape of Paris according to Des Coulam
Des Coulam is the author of the field recordings of Paris. For almost 20 years, he has been carrying out systematic recordings of the city. In his practice, Des Coulam chose as his patrons Georg Perec, Ludwig Koch and photographers of Paris from the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Perec is invoked by him as an enthusiast and recorder of everyday life, who taught him to observe “what is happening when nothing is happening”. In my talk I would like to present a portrait and describe Des Coulam’s achievements in the context of questions about sonic ecology: what is noise pollution?, what is and how to preserve the uniqueness of soundscape of a city like Paris?, how to define the aims of sonic ecology in the context of big cities?