1 Introduction

Contemporary art is replete with works that explore the relationships between sound and space, with "space" understood in physical, sensorial, geographical, social, and political terms. Today I can plug my headphones into the façade of a building in Berlin to hear how its materiality, made audible through the use of seismic sensors embedded into the building's infrastructure, changes over time and in response to variations in atmospheric pressure, weather, and other environmental factors. In other words, I can listen to a building as it evolves over time and in relation to its surroundings. In suburban London I can visit a building whose spiraling form is inspired by the music of Erik Satie and the chance methods of John Cage. Electronic music, projected over loudspeakers, is played throughout the building. The music is created from sounds that were recorded during the making of the building itself: the sounds of breaking ground, of pouring concrete. This literal musique concrète is lush and surprisingly beautiful. And, it is impossible to say where music begins and architecture ends. In 2017 I could visit an acoustic refuge in a low-income neighborhood in Beirut. This temporary structure, erected in a parking lot close to a highway, used acoustic paneling to reduce environmental noise, but it also featured a quiet, meditative soundtrack composed of everyday city sounds. The designer wanted to draw attention to the uneven ways in which noise affects rich and poor inhabitants of the city—how a politics of noise shapes the city and differently impacts upon the lives of its residents.1