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Copyright

Kevin Toksöz Fairbairn;

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80511-643-1
Hardback978-1-80511-644-8
PDF978-1-80511-645-5
HTML978-1-80511-647-9
EPUB978-1-80511-646-2

Language

  • English

THEMA

  • ABA
  • TTA
  • JBCC
  • QDHR5

BISAC

  • ART060000
  • PHI018000
  • SOC026030
  • TEC001000

Keywords

  • Acoustic Agency
  • Experimental Instrumentation
  • Material Sonicity
  • Hylo Narrans
  • Sonic Marronage
  • Intermaterial Listening

    Hylo Narrans

    Echoes of Material Marronage

    FORTHCOMING
    This book explores the acoustic agency of brass as a vital medium through which histories of extraction, resistance, and collective creativity resonate.
    Blending metalwork, experimental instrument-building, and philosophical inquiry, the book listens closely to brass not just as material, but as storyteller—what the author calls hylo narrans, echoing Sylvia Wynter’s invocation of homo narrans. Grounded in their practice spanning artisanal craftsmanship and industrial labor, the author examines how materials respond, resist, and reshape meaning within the workshop, the concert hall, and the broader social fabric. By introducing chimeracords—hybrid sound objects forged from factory detritus—and their affordance for sonic experimentation, 'Hylo Narrans' challenges Western narratives of purity, utility, and control, inviting readers to consider alternative storylines posed by materials-in-flight.
    Weaving theories of marronage through situated acoustic knowledge, this book is essential reading for those working at the intersection of sound, matter, and community. It speaks to experimental musicians, sound artists, artistic researchers, and theorists interested in how sonic materiality relates to social space, cultural memory, and communal wellbeing. With a deep commitment to sonic collectivity and intermaterial dialogue, this volume reimagines the workshop as a site of resistance, resonance, and relational creativity.

    Contributors

    Kevin Toksöz Fairbairn

    (author)
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4447-1192

    Kevin Toksöz Fairbairn is a sound artist and musician working around the edges of installation, improvisation, composition, and craftsmanship. He publishes about sound studies, artistic research, and musicology, and has given masterclasses and lectures throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. He is an accomplished instrument builder and performs on a variety of instruments of his own design and construction, with which he appears regularly throughout Europe and worldwide. He is a passionate exponent for the values of collaboration and community in artistic production and works regularly with many different creative partners and groups, championing both young and emerging composers and artists as well as working alongside established ensembles including Klangforum Wien, Talea Ensemble, and Collegium Novum Zürich. He received his PhD in artistic research from Leiden University in 2020, where his dissertation on the performance practice of experimental music notations received special distinction. His monograph, dis/cord: Thinking Sound through Agential Realism, was published by punctum books in 2022.