Sonic Ambiances – ‘Bruitage’-Recordings of the Swiss International Radio in the Context of Media Practices and Cultural Heritage

Patricia Jäggi (1)

1 Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts [Luzern]

The article follows a discovery in the Swiss sound archives: the ‘bruitages’. Bruitages are field recordings; real world sounds from places and events in Switzerland used in radio production. They represent a documentary media practice which is based on sonic ambiances. In the context of radio, sonic ambiances are then positioned threefold: as a documentary and handcrafted practice, as a bodily performance in local space, and as a perceptive phenomenon. This leads to an understanding of ambiances as mediatized interactions between humans and their environment, resulting in specific media practices. The article concludes by considering whether a deeper understanding of ambiances could influence the media-critical debate about the realisation of the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage convention.

Mots clés: documentary radio; media production; empirical study; sound studies; performance; intangible cultural heritage

Domaines: Architecture, aménagement de l'espace

Patricia Jäggi. Sonic Ambiances – ‘Bruitage’-Recordings of the Swiss International Radio in the Context of Media Practices and Cultural Heritage. Ambiances, tomorrow. Proceedings of 3rd International Congress on Ambiances. Septembre 2016, Volos, Greece, Sep 2016, Volos, Greece. p. 903 - 908. ⟨hal-01414217⟩