The Guarani & Kaiowá Sound Lab
Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th of October | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01 | UCL MAL
An Ambisonic Sound Lab hosted by Guarani and Kaiowá - Indigenous communities from Brazil
Last year, Guarani and Kaiowá community members took part in an artists residency at Monom Studios in Berlin. This year, they are co-hosting an Ambisonic Sound Lab with the Multimedia Anthropology Lab at University College London.
The unique ways in which Guarani and Kaiowá communities understand sound draws attention to the complex sonic metaphysiscs that shape their perspectives on ecology, technology and knowledge. Throughout our ongoing collaborative partnership UCL MAL has explored hrow emerging technologies are mobilised by Guarani and Kaiowá communities to document and preserve their ancestral culture, while Guarani and Kaiowá perspectives on sound can also help offer new ways to think about recent innovations in sound technology.
This interactive ambisonic sound lab will host a dynamic programme of practical workshops, panel discussions, interactive installations and musical performances, to examine the diverse ways in which sound is understood in different contexts and explore how these differences can be brought into dialogue through the medium of sound itself. By inviting participants to interact with the ambisonic speaker array and experiment with the movement of sound in space, this Guarani and Kaiowá sound lab will explore the possibilities of sound as a medium for dialogue and knowledge exchange.
EVENTS PROGRAMME | 12TH & 13TH OCTOBER | UCL MAL
SATURDAY 12TH OCTOBER
Open Source Spatial Sound | Practical Workshop
11am - 2pm | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01 | Course Tutor: Andrea Esther Kerecsen
This 3-hour workshop is designed for people with some experience in sound production, offering an in-depth exploration of open-source spatial audio systems, focusing on ambisonics. Ambisonics is a 3D audio technique that captures sound as a full spherical field, enabling immersive sound reproduction that adapts to any speaker arrangement. Participants will engage with both theoretical and practical elements of ambisonics, learning how to create fully immersive 3D sound environments using accessible, open-source tools.
Sonic Encounters | Guarani & Kaiowá Shamans meet A Guy Called Gerald
2.30pm - 5.30pm | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01
This sonic encounter brings the musical expertise of A Guy Called Gerald into dialogue with the sonic traditions of Guarani and Kaiowá indigenous communities from Brazil. Guarani and Kaiowá elders will introduce Gerald to their traditional musical instruments, described as the "wifi to the gods" that open portals between worlds, while A Guy Called Gerald will introduce indigenous elders to the analogue synthesisers that shaped the birth of UK electronic dance music. In the second half of the session we will be joined by Alex Akal, who will draw on his extensive knowledge of musical instruments from around the world to introduce Guarani and Kaiowá elders and session participants to the sound technologies of diverse global cultures.
Guarani & Kaiowá New Generation: DJ Scott Hill & Kelvin Mbaretê meet Matt Black
7pm - 9pm | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01
Guarani and Kaiowá rapper Kelvin Mbaretê and Indigenous DJ Scott Hill are joined by Matt Black (Ninja Tune) in this innovative performance that brings different contemporary music genres into dialogue with Guarani and Kaiowá traditions. Matt Black will bring his expertise in sampling to demonstrate new ways to creatively remix the sound recordings that compose the Guarani and Kaiowá Sound Archive, while Kelvin Mbaretê performs free-style rhymes in his native Guarani.
SUNDAY 13TH OCTOBER
DIY Spatial Sound Systems | Practical Workshop
11am - 1pm | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01 | Course Tutor: Andrea Esther Kerecsen
This 3-hour workshop invites individuals interested in spatial sound to explore the creation and implementation of affordable ambisonics systems. Ambisonics is a 3D audio technique that captures sound as a full spherical field, enabling immersive sound reproduction adaptable to various speaker arrangements. Participants will engage with the fundamental principles of ambisonics while discovering how to construct an effective spatial audio system using low-budget components.
Geometric Dialogues | Indigenous Geometries in Dialogue with 3D Software
2pm - 4pm | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01
This two-hour interactive lab will accompany 3D artist Vytautas Niedvaras as he engages with Guarani and Kaiowá shamans in an exploration of indigenous geometric forms in Unity. Following the elders’ instructions, Vyautas will turn 2D representations of indigenous symbols into 3D animations, in a practical investigation of these traditional geometric shapes and the unique spatial dimensions they envisage.
Mixing Methods | Scott Hill and Kelvin Mbaretê Meet DJ Nuky
4pm - 5.30pm | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01
This session invites Guarani and Kaiowá rapper Kelvin Mbaretê and DJ Scott Hill to dialogue with DJ Nuky from Bom Shanka Records, in a practical workshop on DJ mixing. The workshop is part of Bom Shanka Music's Pulse ofUnity project, which seeks to address accessibility and diversity in the music industry.
What is Sound? | A Panel Debate on cross-cultural concepts of sound
5.30pm - 7pm | 20 Bedford Way - W3.01
This panel debate invites sound artists, researchers and acoustic specialists to join Guarani and Kaiowá elders in a cross-cultural
dialogue on the metaphysics of sound. How does sound affect human experience? What kind of knowledge can sound provide? What can sound do - and what can we do with it? Join us for this deep-dive discussion into how sound is understood across diverse contexts.
