Underneath the episode blurb will be an embedded audio file of the podcast.
These will additionally be available on podcast services such as Apple Podcasts, and could also feature on the small ipad/tablets at the Bodleian Library's Weston Library on headphones for library visitors.
This page will host a series of podcasts derived from some of the exhibition's collection as chosen by the curators. The podcasts will consist of discussions with other researchers around the themes of the collection, and talks with the curators on their reasonings for some of the chosen books.
Episode 4:
Kindle vs. codex 15MS. Ward. 11.27p. 7 Georgian source book with dried flowers | Marjory Wardrop manuscript with dried flowers | Bound manuscript
This episode is part instructional score, part interview. Talking with the author, Stephen Emmerson on his book Pharmacopoetics and the idea that the written book somehow acts as a signifier for the 'genius'. The book has been commonly thought of as holding the essence of knowledge and ideas, Calum and Sian ask Stephen for a book that he believes represents this preconception. With this book Calum and Sian will list collage a list of command sentences for the listener to act out and twist the book into a performative act.
Whilst the sound of crisp dry leaves and flowers generate a score for the episode, Calum and Sian discuss how books are not only to be read but how the weight of books hold an importance. In this episode we are encouraged to think of the physicality of a book and why we assume that a heavy book may be considered as a guide to the knowledge it might contain.
Episode 5:
6 Taste 40Rec. f.67 Stephen Emmerson, Pharmacopoetics (2013) Pharmacopoetics :pill poems to be swallowed with a glass of water
New acquisition Stephen Emmerson, Mushroom Book (2015)
Episode 3:
9 Sound 89 Barcode 606501524 (no shelfmark) Songsters of the Golden West | Book of bird song including several flexi discs
Episode 2 :
10 Smell 94 MS. Aeth. C. 14 see slideshow late 15th or early 16th century, Four Gospels "The smell of home"
In this episode Calum and Sian will talk to the Curators of the exhibition 'Sense-sational Books' regarding the smells of home. Every home has a distinctive smell and together we will uncover how smell links to memory and perhaps how language is used to conjure smells.
In this episode Calum and Sian talk to Acoustic Ecologist Bernie Krause and his research into the diminishing soundscapes of birds. His seminal book 'The Great Animal Orchestra, 2012' will be a springboard for the discussion and they will talk about how acoustic ecology highlights the effects of noise pollution on the dawn chorus.
Footnotes: With each episode footnotes will be added to the podcast that link to the 'Footnotes' page. These interactive footnotes, alleviate the eye from the edge of the page and instead offer tactile connections and off-shoots from the collection.
For example a footnote for this episode could include a link to Dr Peter Szöke's 'The Unknown Music of Birds', 1982 which is a compilation of bird song slowed down to the rate of human hearing which is sometimes referred to as sounding similar to operatic vocals.
Episode 6:
3 Dickens Check | Audio cassette, Oliver Twist read by Simon Callow| Audio cassette and case
In this talk we are encouraged to think about the performativity of text. Dickens' as a writer and performer of his own works allows us to identify the author's voice that becomes the aural register in our mind. The audiobook on another level helps to distinguish sound within books but also blends with the soundscape outside of our headphones and speakers.With this blending in mind, we talk to Barry Truax about his research with the World Soundscape Project founded in Vancouver in the 1960s and the term 'Schizophonia' used to register this blend of real and recorded sound.
In this first episode, Calum and Sian respond to the books eaten by mice and worms. They traverse across conversations on the conservation of paper and recipes into the cultural significance of eating insects. Through interviews, poems and soundscapes the pair dive into the taste of books.
Dr. Chun-Chao Chiu is a Taiwanese artist and paper-maker currently working at Northumbria University as the paper-making technician.
Elena Carter is an archivist at Wellcome Collection, in her work she is focused on challenging the way people think and feel about health. Through her work with the Audrey Amiss collection at Wellcome Collection we learn about how the team conserve her work that has been eaten by insects and riddled with dust.
2. Instruction: Close your eyes and open an old book. Take a whiff, what does the smell remind you of?