Sonic Commons

In 2025, gatherings at CTHQ are organized around the Sonic Commons: the texture of sounds (and silences) that form the urban landscape. Sound shapes our atmosphere: the ways we interact with each other, what we hear and don’t hear, how we listen and to what or who. What are the sounds of community, of history, of power, of industry that make up our city? How does sound shape the daily experiences of the cityscape, and what social actions emerge from sonic interactions?

In the context of increasing political turmoil, unpredictability, and authoritarianism, we explore how the politics of sound can be explored as metaphors and tools to help us listen, decipher, decode, and move past this tumultuous moment. In a sonic commons, what is shared corresponds to what is heard, what is silenced and what is amplified within our public spaces and our culture at large.

Programs and ideas are organized around a growing list of sonic fragments found in public space, including (but not limited to):

the summer anthem, the high heels clicking on the street, the catcall, the cackle, the small talk, the spontaneous street conversation, the shit talking, the lo-rider, the birdsong within city greenspaces, the protest slogan, the call and response, the collective song, the impetus to speak out, the notion that voices are heard (but is the hearing ever translated into action?), the censored voices, the scream, the shout, the catatonic scream, the silence, the stillness, the saying something when seeing something, the public address, the sign language, the signage, the place names modified for colonial tongues, the codes, the slang, the diasporic dialects, the endangered languages, the underground codes, the busking, the rhythm of urban infrastructure, the phone sounds played out loud, the personal speakers, the thunder, the bass, the noise pollution, the noise ordinances, the alarms, the sirens, the screeching of a halt, the struggle to breathe deeply in a polluted cityscape, the right to breathe, air, the obstruction of breath, asthma, indigenous sonic agency, the noise, the rumbling, the telephone game, the prank call, the rumor, the encrypted group chat, the urban legend, the rumors, the hysteria, the call to prayer, the call to action.

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE
JANUARY–MARCH

Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates and advanced registration

JANUARY
Wednesday, January 22 | 6–8pm
Disorderly Noise: Kicking Off a Year of the Sonic Commons
With Cara Michell (slowpractice), Sonic Insurgency Research Group & Robert Sember (Ultra-red)

Wednesday, January 29 | 6–8pm 
Pomegrenade, a Collective Song
With Khaled Jarrar, Safira Berrada-Riggs, Mohammed Salah, Alber Baseel, Iskandar Dridi & H. Sinno

Thursday, January 30 | 6–8pm
The Coded Language: QueerWordPlay
With Carlos Motta, Pete Sigal, Noelle Deleon & Rebecca Teich

FEBRUARY
Wednesday, February 5 | 6–7:30pm 
Monthly Reiki Meditation with Jennelle Ramdeen

Wednesday, February 12 | 6–8pm
Noise Session
Organized by Shirine Saad, with Yuniya Edi Kwon & Holland Andrews

Thursday, February 13 | 6–8pm
With Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Wednesday, February 19 | 6–8pm 
Noise Session
Organized by Shirine Saad, with Joy Guidry, Dorchel Haqq & Lisa E.Harris

Wednesday, February 26 | 6–8pm 
The Censored Voices: the notion that voices are heard (but is the hearing ever translated into action?)
With Samora Pinderhughes (The Healing Project) 

Wednesday, March 12 | 6–8pm 
Noise Session
Organized by Shirine Saad, with Laura Ortman

Thursday, March 20 | 6–8pm
The Scream and The Silence
With Harmony Holiday, Raven Chacon & JJJJJerome Ellis