Acoustemological Investigation: Sound Diary #Tehran

Ali Mousavi

Acoustemological Investigation: Sound Diary #Tehran is a research-based project that is being developed as part of my ongoing Ph.D. research. This is accomplished by employing sensory methodology as a research tool for observing and analysing architecture and urban design. Art and architecture have always seemed to me to have the potential for social change and the improvement of the existing social order. They can be emancipatory, assisting in self-development, promoting social justice, and even, in small ways, changing the world we live in. As a result, artists and architects engage in activities of innovation and creativity in the hope of articulating their dreams and building a better future for the benefit of their communities. The living environment and places where people spend their time tell a story about who they are and their vision of the future. Art and architecture are social practices that are inextricably linked to the rest of social life. In this regard, this exposition is an attempt to observe, study, and analyse the process of urbanisation in Iran, specifically the housing construction in the Pardis Phase 11 suburbs of Tehran. The interest in the sensory dimension of Pardis Phase 11 serves as the starting point for this artistic practice-led research project. The project employs sensorial methodologies such as acoustemology to investigate the area and urban transformations caused by concepts such as ‘modernisation’, ‘development’, ‘progress’, and ‘globalisation’. The work evolves through a large collection of media content in the form of field recordings made at the Phase 11 site. The project’s goal is to create a discursive sensory environment in order to generate a contemplative and in-depth reflection of a barren land transformed into an urban setting.

Acoustemological Investigation

Sound Diary: #Tehran

References

Abrahamian, Ervand. 1983. Iran between two revolutions (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press)

Amanat, Abbas. 2019. Iran: a modern history (New Haven: Yale University Press)

Babaie, Sussan. 2008. Isfahan and its Palaces: Statecraft, Shi'ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press)

Baudelaire, Charles. 1964. The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays, trans and ed. by Jonathan Mayne (New York: Phaidon)

Bianca, Stefano. 2000. Urban Form in the Arab World - Past and Present (Zurich: vdf)

Brown, L.C. (ed.) 1973. From Madina to Metropolis: Heritage and Change in the Near Eastern City (Darwin Press)

Curzon, George N. 1966. Persia and the Persian question (London: Cass)

Dovey, Kim. 2007. Framing Places: Mediating Power in Built Form (London: Routledge)

Etymonline Website. ‘Paradise’ <https://www.etymonline.com/word/paradise> [accessed 2 May 2020]

Feld, Steven. 1996. “Waterfalls of Song: an acoustemology of place resounding in Bosavi, Papua New Guinea”. In Senses of Place, edited by Steven Feld and Keith H. Basso, 91-135. (Santa Fe: School of American Research Press)

Foucault, Michel. 1980. Power/ Knowledge. Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-7, C. Gorden (ed.)(New York: Pantheon Books)

Hammermeister, Kai. 2002. The German Aesthetic Tradition (New York: Cambridge University Press)

Hillier, B. and J. Hanson. 2003. The Social Logic of Space (New York: Cambridge University Press)

Hovanessian, Vartan. 1946. ‘Architectural Issues in Iran’ (The Architects Magazine., Taban Press, 1.1: 4–9) Trans. from French to Farsi by Iraj Ghafari. English trans. by Ali Mousavi, 15 January 2021.

Hulpachova, Marketa. 2014. Iran's economy struggles to support Ahmadinejad's ill-conceived housing vision <http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/jan/30/irans-economy-struggles-to-support-ahmadinejads-ill-conceived-housing-vision/> [accessed 18 March 2020]

Javaherkalam, Abdulaziz. 1978. History of Tehran. (Language Farsi) Library of Manouchehri and offset Golshan publication. National Library serial number: 1357/6/28-1782

Keddie, Nikki R. and Yann Richard. 2003. Modern Iran: roots and results of revolution (New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press)

Kheirabadi, Masoud. 2000. Iranian cities: formation and development (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press)

Khorsandi, Manouchehr. 1946. ‘Iranian Architects Society’ (The Architects Magazine, Taban Press 1.1: 3) English trans. by Ali Mousavi, 15 January 2021.

King, Anthony. 2004. Spaces of Global Cultures: Architecture, Urbanism, Identity, 1st edn. (London: Routledge)

Kunstler, James H. 1994. Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape(New York: Simon & Schuster)

Kuzu Grup Blog. ‘Maskan Mehr Project’ <https://www.kuzugrup.com/Proje/Mesken-Meher-Projesi> [accessed 18 March 2020]

Madanipour, Ali. 1998. Tehran: the making of a metropolis (Chichester: John Wiley)

Merin, Gili. 2013. ‘AD Classics: Ville Radieuse / Le Corbusier’. <https://www.archdaily.com/411878/ad-classics-ville-radieuse-le-corbusier/> [accessed 26 April 2022]

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 2002. Phenomenology of Perception: An Introduction (London: Routledge)

Messy Nessy Chic Blog. 2019. ‘Tehran’s Desert Ghost Towers Look like a Zombie Movie Waiting to Happen’ <https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/06/13/tehrans-desert-ghost-towers-look-like-a-zombie-movie-waiting-to-happen/> [accessed 18 March 2020]

Mumford, Lewis. 1970. Culture of Cities (New York: Open Road)

Naik, D. and T. Oldfield (eds) 2009. Critical Cities: Ideas, Knowledge and Agitation from Emerging Urbanists, 1st edn (London: Myrdle Court Press)

Osborne, Peter (ed.) 2001. From an Aesthetic Point of View: Philosophy, Art and the Senses (London: Serpent’s Tail)

Patterson, Orlando. 1994. ‘Ecumenical America: Global Culture and the American Cosmos’ (World Policy Journal 11/ 2: 103)

Pope, Arthur Upham. 1979. Persian architecture (Tehran, Iran: Soroush Press)

Rice, Tom. 2018. ‘Acoustemology’, in The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, ed. by Hilary Callan (Oxford: John Wiley & Sons), pp.1–7

Ricoeur, P. and P. Rico. 1965. History and Truth (Northwestern University Press)

Sennett, Richard. 1989. ‘The Civitas of Seeing’ (Places 5/4: 82-84)

Shirazi, Reza. 2018. Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Iran: Tradition, Modernity, and the Production of ‘Space-in-Between’ (Springer)

Sudjic, Deyan. 1 March 1996. ‘The Height of madness’, The Guardian, (Review section)

Tip

Tip