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The Voice of Warning

Collaborative workshops exploring the aural dimension of warnings and the soundscapes they occupy (and create) through the prism of the siren.

An image of a siren sitting atop a stand against the background of the sky

Organised by: Francesca Laura Cavallo (RCA), Carina Fernley (UCL), Ilan Kelman (UCL), Aura Satz (RCA).

About the project

The Voice of Warning is a new collaboration between the UCL Warning Research Centre (WRC) and the Preemptive Listening research project at the Royal College of Art (RCA). It brings together artists, scientists, and advocacy groups to explore alternative methods for warning the deep future through the prism of the siren.

What does it mean to be the voice that warns? How can we warn across different time scales and space scales? In collaboration with artist Aura Satz and researcher/curator Francesca Laura Cavallo, UCL's Warning Research Centre will host two workshops exploring the aural dimension of warnings and the soundscapes they occupy (and create) through the prism of the siren. The workshops will focus on the controversial Sizewell C proposed development of a nuclear power station in Suffolk, where we will work in partnership with Stop Sizewell C. 

The Voice of Warning aims to mobilise artists and the channels of artistic production (in particular, sound and listening practices) to articulate concerns and stimulate innovative participatory warning methods responding to energy transition decisions and the new risky infrastructures attached to them.
 

About the workshops 


Workshop 1 is planned for the end of May 2023 in Sizewell. It will focus on a walk, followed by deep listening and sounding exercises, leading to co-creating a new 'siren sound' (and interpretation). Using 'abstract' sounds (both listened to and produced by participants), the project will experiment with citizens-lead methods for warning about the deep future.

Workshop 2 at UCL will hold a space for reflection on what it means to be the voice that warns by discussing the listening and sounding exercises in Sizewell in relation to broader discourses about warnings and risk communication. It will involve UCL WRC affiliate researchers alongside invited artists, nuclear policy advisors and activists to test and further develop our research methodologies with an interdisciplinary team of experts and practitioners.