Upcoming IMS Events

Alexandros Maria Hatzikiriakos will present his new MSCA/UKRI project SONICC, that investigates the acoustic communities of Crete and Cyprus in the early modern period through the lens of intermedial and sonic methodologies. For more about the project, see: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FZ001153%2F1

IMS Study Group “Auditory History” Reading Group: “Reading Sound and Literature”
Despite its fundamental role as a historical source, literature is rarely discussed within cultural sound studies. This autumn’s reading-group session will focus on recent contributions that explore the relationship between the written and auditory worlds. The discussion will open a broader conversation about how to write about sound and how sonic experience shapes literary creation.

How do historians concieve sound, think about it, and do sound research? What can other disciplines, namely musicology, learn from historians’ approach? These questions will be addressed through two project presentations by Hannah Potthoff and Julia Samp, who will present their dissertation projects considering medieval auditory perception, interpretation, and tradition. Their dissertations projects were funded by two DFG-funded projects, “Belliphonie im Mittelalter” (TU Chemnitz, 2021–24) and “Lärm vor Dezibel” (RWTH Aachen University, 2022–25).

1st International Conference of the IMS Study Group “Auditory History”
The inaugural conference of the IMS Study Group “Auditory History” seeks to contribute to this momentum by asking how can we access and interpret auditory experiences in varied historical contexts? Additionally, do we treat them as direct remnants of sonic experiences or as traces of “auditory imagination” (Eliot 1933, Schmicking 2019). Building on foundational work (Schäfer 1977, Truax 1984; 2001) and more recent contributions (Rice 2015, Mansell 2021), the conference is particularly interested in the hearing-listening dichotomy and the diversity of listening practices—including those shaped by marginalised voices, non-elite actors, and sources that are difficult to grasp.

In 2026 the IMS Study Group “Music and Media” will organize its 17th annual conference. The gathering will take place at the University College Dublin and focus on “Directions and Aesthetics of the Digital Era.”

The IMS Regional Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ARLAC) will hold its seventh conference in Rio de Janeiro (BR) from 10 to 14 August 2026. Further details will be announced soon.

IMS members are entitled to a reduced registration fee rate.