Phonurgia Nova Awards 2022 : The Nominations
Sounds on all stages
This is the 27th edition of an international event which, year after year, confirms the unveiling power of sound. Established in the shadow of the Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles, the Phonurgia Nova Awards honours sound narration in all its forms. Through it, an invisible sound geography takes shape: that of a sound chosen for its capacity to paint the world – and not to embellish or enhance it, as music does.
Its five major prizes are an invitation to dive into the creative waves of the world. How can we deny that at a time when podcasts and audio on demand are exploding, there is an urgent need to give sound creation its rightful place? Can we not agree with Juliette Volcler* when she says that “our ears must learn to defend themselves, to take a tangent, to explore alternatives, in the face of the explosion of auditory content shaped by marketing”.
The aura of these awards is the result of this singular positioning (which consists of preferring authorial approaches to industrial or branded podcasts), but also of the deliberate choice of a broad listening angle, ignoring formats and divisions. The jury is keen to highlight invention wherever it occurs: in broadcasting as well as in podcasting, in immersive sound journeys as well as in productions that combine sound writing and interactivity, without neglecting the more linear forms of fiction or documentary.
2022 has brought an unprecedented turnout: 30 contributing countries, 358 candidates. The emphasis being on the aural medium, which motivates their approach. In their hands, the microphone is transformed into a camera, paintbrush or pen. Everything always begins with listening: listening to a person, immersing oneself in a landscape, inventing a sound form by combining successive arrangements on the editing table… Then comes the time of the jury. The jury works in full view of the public. How does it mark a hierarchy between ambitious sound architectures and subtle narrative miniatures? How does it classify the projects? What ideas do they give to the imaginary and to the reading of reality? How do they take into account the experience of the listener, which, during these three days, is as much collective as individual? How does it assert a critical freedom, benevolent and generous yet without compromise?
Each edition is a unique collective adventure because the cards will be shuffled in front of you. As Christian Rosset ** once pointed out, we might as well say it straight away: “all this is priceless”.
Marc Jacquin, Director
* Interview with Juliette Volcler at the Dinard Podcast Festival #1, available on Calaméo
Independent researcher, critic and radio producer, she is the author of several essays, including Le son comme arme, les usages policiers et militaires du son(La Découverte, 2011) and Contrôle. Comment s’inventa l’art de la manipulation sonore(La Découverte / La Rue musicale, 2017).
** Christian Rosset is also a radio author, composer and essayist. In 2009, he published “Yann Paranthoën, l’art de la radio” with Phonurgia Nova éditions, a collection of testimonies and documents on the master of sound documentaries in a triptych book-CD-DVD.
Thursday 3rd November 2022: IRCAM – Centre Pompidou
10am: Opening of the room
10.15am – 12.20pm: Sound Fiction Prize
Pascale Brischoux, Evenements, (Cineke asbl et ACSR, Belgium)
Octave Broutard, Construire un Feu, (L’Expérience_France Culture, France)
El-Enany Sami, Creation of the birds, Falling Tree, (UK)
Jean Le Peltier & Christophe Rault, La nuit peut tomber à tout moment (MA scène nationale – Pays de Montbéliard (production, France), Babelfish (production déléguée, Belgique)
Jacques Lemaire,La terre est plate, (Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles et ACSR, Belgium)
Daniel Martin-Borret, J’arrive pas, (France)
1.20pm – 8pm: Archive of the Spoken Word Award
David Berezan, Runners (UK)
Antoine Bonnet, Fluctuat Nec Mergitur – La vie après la nuit Racontellers, (France)
Sonia Cabrita, Le sang de Ginette (France)
Agnieszka Czyżewska Jacquemet, Less and Less Soul (Polish Radio – Lublin, Poland)
Charles-Henri Despeignes, Andrew Orr, l’aube attendra (France)
Georgio de la Negra (France), Vaga/bondage (RTS, Le Labo, Switzerland)
Yasmina Hamlawi, Perle (Jackal Productions & ACSR, Belgium)
Claire Laxtague, Germaine ou la retenue (France)
Eleanor McDowall & Michael Segalov, Time flies (Falling Tree, UK)
Emilie Mendy, La K7 de yaye Elisa (ARTE Radio, France)
Kasia Michalak, Our Lullaby (Polish Radio – Lublin, Poland)
Manon Prigent, Les années SIDA. Se dire séropo, un geste politique (LSD_France Culture, France)
Marta Rebzda, Let me tell you, (Polish Radio Theater, Poland)
Mathieu Reynaud, Artsakh, nous sommes nos montagnes (France)
Antoine Richard, Là où se rejoignent les rivières (MA scène nationale – Pays de Monbéliard, France)
Clara Ries & Sarah Lefèvre, Éclair, le son révélateur (Collectif Transmission, France)
Anne-Julie Rollet & Anne-Laure Pigache, Espace Ici (Les Harmoniques du Néon, France)
Julien Sarti, Saigon sur Allier (France)
Vittoria Soddu & Giorgia Cadeddu, Iolanda mi nant de nòmini (Studiolanda & Radio Papesse, Italy)
Friday 4th November 2022: IRCAM – Centre Pompidou
10am : Opening to the public
10.15am – 3pm : Pierre Schaeffer Discovery Prize
Mathias Arrignon, Le Bruissement de la Forêt (UK)
Diane Barbé, On a Green Hill (Germany)
Elise Bonifas, 3h30 (France)
Eyal Cohen, Machsava (Thought) (Israel)
Jean Baptiste François, Joyeux anniversaire (Belgium)
Ju Gillot, La monstre au corps (France)
Mathias Guilbaud, Chez nous (France)
Maxime Le Moing, Une brève écoute des sonneries scolaires (France)
Lotte Nijsten & Gillis Van der Wee, OBSCUUR (ACSR, Belgium)
Mélia Roger, Intimacy of lichens (France)
Rafael Simman, Wie sagen wir Angst ? (Austria)
Raphaël Venayre, Le chant de la famille (Belgium)
Lauren Wong, Our Drifting Odyssey (Hong-Kong)
3.15pm – 7pm: Sound Art Prize
Werner Cee, Isolation revisitée (Germany)
David Christoffel, Susciter (France)
Louis Olivier Desmarais, Rainbow Odyssey : La rédemption (Canada)
Janine Eisenächer & Andrei Cucu, In/Still Life (Germany)
La Pesch (Allemagne), Conservation Conversation (SEMI SILENT, Romania)
Lisa Mark, JA (NEIN). NEIN. (Switzerland)
Elia Moretti, Lore Lixenberg & Tereza Havelková, Une fois Enea a collé un pépin de pomme à mon oreille (Radio tchèque Vltava, Czech Republic)
Manja Ristić (Croatie), Nothing Has To Happen, Fortress Europe (Radiophrenia Glasgow, Scotland)
Mark Vernon (Grande Bretagne), Sheet Erosion (Radiokunst – Kunstradio, Ö1, Austria)
Antje Vowinckel, Second Floor (Germany)
Mat Ward, Le Jabberwocky, Then She Reaches For The Gun (Australia)
Saturday 5th November 2022: MGI / Maison du Geste et de l’Image, Ville de Paris
10am: Opening to the public
10.15am – 5.10pm: Field Recording / Soundscape Prize
Alfredo Ardia, Höömii – The Voice of Wind (Germany)
Félix Blume, Desierto, (ARTE Radio, France)
Lorine Carton-Amor & Sami Tedeschi, Chant Losera, Lumières et Chuchotements (Collectif Lundi Soir, France)
Dillon Finbarr, Weddellscape (Republic of Ireland)
Mat Eric Hart, Haguro Shugendō (France)
Jan Jelinek, Surveillance – in three episodes (SWR2, Germany)
Lasse-Marc Riek, Corona Concrète (Germany)
Hannes Lingens, Jerusalem Lost and Found (Germany)
Manuela Meier, Elementary Structures (Switzerlan
Fernando Mota, What is a waterfall, but an infinite wave (Portugal)
Miri Pelzman, Milking Music,(Germany)
Philip Samartzis, Atmospheres and Disturbances (Australia)
Iga Vandenhove, Las voces del bosque Madidi (France)
6pm: Presentation of the Awards (including the announcement of the Creative Residencies)
Not in competition but audible online here and in situ (listening with headphones) :
Frédéric Acquaviva (France), [seminal] (Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Germany)
Alessandro Bosetti (France), Portraits de Voix (Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Germany)
Charlotte Mongibeaux, A bord d’un convoi humanitaire pour l’Ukraine (RCF, France)
Simone Movio, Libro di terra e d’incanti (Italy)
Let’s go back in history…
The idea of this competition was inspired by the liberator of the airwaves Pierre Schaeffer, who supported the young association – Phonurgia Nova – from 1985 onwards. Initially hosted in 1986 by the Actes Sud publishing house, it took off in the shadow of photography. Today, it is at the centre of much attention, at a time when narrative podcasts are booming. Throughout the year, it offers training courses, meetings and residencies on sound writing, all over France (on request) and mainly in Arles, Dinard, Paris and Termes. The winning works are broadcast on the website www.sonosphere.org, and are promoted on the network of EBU member stations. They are shown at festivals such as Sonohr in Basel, Les yeux grand fermés in Geneva, and the Interférence_s Festival at the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles in Paris. Throughout the country, they are highlighted in the context of educational activities, such as the professional training courses organised by Phonurgia Nova. For several years now, several musical creation studios accredited by the Ministry of Culture (such as the INA’s GRM, the GMEM or Euphonia in Marseille) have been supporting this event and amplifying its action by granting decentralised “creation residencies”. Last year, this circle of partners was extended to include the Art Zoyd Studio in Valenciennes. These rhizomatic collaborations reinforce the impact of the festival year after year and allow it not only to unify an ever larger community of authors of audio (narrative, creative, immersive or performative) but also to reach a growing audience of sound creation enthusiasts, both in France and around the world. The sound quality of the competition is managed by the CIDMA association.
It is imperative to remember that as the capacity is limited, both at IRCAM and at MGI, it is essential to book your place.