Zsófia Szonja Illés’s soundscape project explores the margins of a city and a neighbourhood on the periphery through sound and the narrative of unseen, hidden, and unheard voices. These voices in her work include those on the spatial, social and environmental margins. Invisibility and silence are being explored through the layering of these three narratives: through environmental sound recordings, interviews and the artist’s own narration and reflection.

Female narratives appear in the soundscape through the artist’s conversation with feminist urban designers. The perspectives of those living on the literal and social margins of the city are presented through interviews with social workers, while other-than-human voices speak the powerful metaphors of cohabitation, and translate what a horizontal society might feel like into a sonic experience.

Zsófia’s residency was held at first remotely, combining research and online conversations in order to understand the context and place. Her work asks the important question of whether – instead of the ethically questionable attempts of ‘giving voice’ – the unconscious of the city could be explored and understood through practices of listening and empathy building. Her sound piece inspires this kind of listening.

Bio

Zsofia Szonja Illes is an artist and designer with a socially engaged practice, founder of the artist-led community project ‘Collective Plant’. She is a lecturer for ‘Landscape Democracy’ (LED2LEAP), holds a Masters degree in Environmental Design from the Glasgow School of Art, and is a collaborating artist at the ’School for Civic Imagination’, Centre of Contemporary Arts, CCA: Glasgow. Her current research and work look into democratising placemaking processes - in defining the use of vacant urban spaces and land - through sensory and embodied engagement.