In this episode of the Mediapolis Now Voices series, we speak with Christian Olesen. Christian is based at the University of Amsterdam, in The Netherlands, where he is Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Cultural Heritage. His work has focused on archiving theory and history, film and media historiography, digital methods, found footage, remixing and practice-based research.
We discuss with Christian various was of thinking about the film sound and soundscapes, extending from the experimental ends of film theory and cinephilia (e.g. Michel Chion, Rachel McBrinn, Robin Rimbaud, Noël Akchoté) to the creative appropriations of sonic film material in hip hop music (e.g. MF DOOM, Wu-Tang Clan and The Prodigy). Throughout, we pay a lot of attention to kinds of environments and atmospheres sound creates and makes possible in and through film, and the practice, politics, and ethics of sonic appropriation.
Throughout the interview, we discuss and play short sections of recorded material, for which we do not own the copyright. The use of this material is strictly for the purposes of criticism, commentary, teaching, scholarship and research, and hence covered under the legal provisions for ‘fair use’ or ‘fair dealing’. All credits go directly to the rightful owners, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Scott Rodgers is Audio Editor for Mediapolis. He also holds the post of Reader in Media and Geography in the Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. His research specialises in the relationships of media and cities and the geographies of communication. Scott also has broad interests in media production practices, digital and networked technologies, urban politics and ethnographic methodologies. His publications have appeared in journals such as Media, Culture and Society, Society and Space, City and Community, International Journal of Cultural Studies, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Space and Culture and Journalism: Theory Practice and Criticism. With Tim Markham, he is co-editor of Conditions of Mediation: Phenomenological Perspectives on Media (Peter Lang, 2017).
