CSTC Collaborators and Partners

The CSTC will inherit, expand and consolidate a long history interdisciplinary sound work in the college that has been going on at least from the Sonic Subjects Acoustic Objects MCCS and Music dept conference in 2005.

• SIML (Sonics Immersive Media Lab), established in 2015 with its unique facility in St James Hatcham (Computing and MCCS)
• Sonic Street Technologies Diaspora, Culture and Knowledge ERC funded consolidator grant 2020 – 2025 (MCCS)

Sonics Immersive Media Labs (SIML) is an interdisciplinary, cross-departmental, world-class multi-media facility housed G05, St James Hatcham. SIML constitutes a resource bookable by academic staff and PhD students across the College whose research touches on the theory, practice, technique, and epistemologies of sound and image as a medium. Its purpose is available to Goldsmiths research community for production and workshop presentation of practice-as-research to the Goldsmiths and the public at large.

Sonic Street Technologies (SST) examines the role and value of bottom up, subaltern and Global South uses of recorded music technologies. Jamaican sound systems, Brazilian aparelhagem, Mexican sonideros and Colombian picos provide good examples.

The project aims to map the distribution and history of these SST worldwide; to investigate the social, economic and cultural conditions from which they are born; and to achieve a deeper understanding of the nature of technology itself and its uses for social and economic progress. SST adopts a practice-as-research methodology as a respect for the knowledge embodied in current sound system and similar street cultures and to help build capacities for their autonomous development.

• Sound System Outernational (SSO) research group, established 2017 hold practice-as-research events at Goldsmiths and Jamaica, Italy and Brazil involving researchers and local sound system communities, (MCCS)
• Topology Research Unit (TRU), est. 2011 with a programme of exhibition, seminars and publications focusing on rhythm, diagrammatogy and auditory topology. Currently with an ongoing collaboration with the ERC funded Topology Atlas (Visual Cultures)  (MCCS)

Sound System Outernational is an ongoing initiative of practitioners and researchers, in association with Goldsmiths, University of London, dedicated to recognizing, stimulating and supporting sound system culture worldwide

There are more sound systems in operation around the world than ever before, more women’s sound systems, more aficionados, more practitioners and more interest across different countries around the globe. Goldsmiths is located in SE London, a historic centre of the capital’s sound system culture. 

Sound System Outernational creates spaces for dance and discussion. We organize events to bring together:

• Practitioners and researchers: we believe the ways of knowing of a popular culture and the knowledge systems of the academy have a lot to learn from each other
• Past, present and future sound system culture: intergenerational conversations strengthen our culture and ensure its future
• Technologies, aesthetics and politics: to understand the culture’s numerous forms, styles and media of creative expression 

The TRU has been set up to explore the two inter-related ways in which topology provides a conceptual language for understanding relationships, intensities and transformations. One is as a methodological tool in social sciences and architecture. The other is as a tool for performance across a range of arts and creative practices.

The TRU objectives are to:

• Make a distinctive contribution to the department’s research profile and REF narrative
• Create impact for the department and the College in public fora, debate and exhibition spaces
• Stimulate research and teaching in a currently exciting and innovative area that is very much in keeping with the Department’s interests and ethos
• Attract research funding and sponsorship
• Amplify links within the department, with other departments, universities organisations
• The Sonics Research Group, established in 2013
• Computing’s Embodied Audiovisual Interaction (EAVI) group and EAVI Nights gig series
• The Immersive Pipeline, an AHRC funded project developing firmware standard for mapping multi-media content across a wide range of surround sound and vision platforms (Computing, 2018-20) 
• Hybrid Live, an AHRC funded project connecting Goldsmiths, Iklectik in London with CCRMA and SFJazz in California through a series of low-latency network audio performance experiments (2021-22) 

Outside organisations and groups:

• Iklectik Art Labs, an independent cultural venue established in 2014 in South London 
• Sonic Womb research project, established 2012 in collaboration with Prof Eric Jauniaux, UCL Institute for Women’s Health, 
• Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Paris Nord, a research and cultural centre in St Denis in the outskirts of Paris, promoting humanities and social science research with support from the CNRS, Université Paris 8 and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord
• Universität der Künste (UDK) Berlin
• Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics (CCRMA) Stanford University