Event
Colloquium: Over-Hearing, Or the Voluntary Prisoners of the Ear
Naomi Waltham Smith
What happens when sonic surveillance reaches its limit, when overhearing hears too much, exhausts itself, uses itself up, and turns into over-hearing? Disengtangling the bonds between listening, sovereignty, and secrecy, I ask what use of the ear remains once it is worn out. Taking the figure of the monarch chained to the throne, I investigate the experience of sonic captivation/captivilty. In the interval between the Strip and the prison, between spectacle and surveillance, I examine how post-Fordist urbanisms retune the ear until we voluntarily chain ourselves to our chairs.