This book will be officially launched in London at the Royal Festival Hall on Monday 21 April 2008.

Sound And The City was an innovative sound art project, conceived by the British Council and realised across China between 2005-6. Seven leading UK sound artists –Brian Eno, David Toop, Peter Cusack, Clive Bell, Scanner, Kaffe Matthews and Robert Jarvis - were invited to create new work inspired by the civic sound environments that they found in four cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangzhou. The artists’ experiences are documented in this book, along with essay contributions from UK and Chinese critics.

The project also invited the Chinese general public to describe their favourite sounds of the cities that they live in. Those descriptions, along with audio recordings, are contained within the book and accompanying CDs. Many of those favourite sounds are ambient ones, less and less frequently heard as Chinese society changes at its current ferocious pace.

• 200 page book (English and Chinese) + 2 audio CDs
• Edited by Yan Jun and Louise Gray
• Published by Horizon Media in Beijing, China

“Sound And The City might be termed an intimate art project. It speaks to the general public, not the selected public, instead of being proudly ahead of it’s time, it intervenes in the lives of the contemporary Chinese public; it encourages people to feel and share, rather than criticize or display miracles. The seven UK artists who made projects for Sound And The City have composed sounds in the most environmentally friendly ways. They invite us to listen again to our own cities and our lives. We have made this book because we want to share and listen with more people” – Yan Jun

The anthology is now available in your local book stores. If you have problem buying the book, please contact Horizon Media Co., Ltd:
Mr. Wang Peng Tel: 021 53594508-2408

The anthology is also available in the bookstores of Beijing 798 Arts District:
1. Timezone8: 010 84560336
2. Bai Tang Guan: 010 64331449

Please click here for more details of the two CDs attached to the book.

Please click here and visit the previous Sound And The City website.

SATC Launch
Venue: Timezone 8 arts bookstore, 798, No.4 Jiu Xian Qiao Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Time: 4PM Saturday 13 October
Performance and entertainment: Yun Jun’s outdoor sound installation, Sound and the City review picture show and a chance to hear the CDs accompanying the Sound and the City Anthology
Speeches by the curators: Leah Zakss and Yan Jun

• On our web partner Qianlong website:
  If you want to listen to My Favourite Sound of Beijing of CD1, please click here.
  Please click here to read the launch news.
• On our web partner Tom website:
  Please click here to read the launch news.

Selected Articles From Sound And The City - The Anthology

1.Sound and the City
By Colin Chinnery (former Arts Manager, British Council, Beijing)

China has been going through enormous cultural shifts ever since the beginning of the 20th century, trying to break free from a legacy of five thousand years of unbroken cultural tradition. We are still witnessing the struggles of these cultural changes now, and possibly even the birth pangs of a new culture emerging from the debris of a century of perpetual revolution.
Read more.

2.Beijing, Noise And The City
By Yan Jun (sound artist, curator-at-large to Sound And The City)

At midnight on 21 May 2005, the Hang Zhou-based sound artist Li Jonahing calmly closed his bloodshot eyes and told all the people around him, ‘Listen, the blue train is running around Beijing.’
Read more.

3.A Giant Meringue In The Living Room
By Clive Bell (musican, composer and writer)

I arrived in Beijing in late March 2005. Peter Cusack, David Toop and I were guests of the British Council. Our hotel was celebrating Easter, with a cordoned-off area for live chickens in the foyer where yellow balls of fluff pecked and strutted. A nearby building was painted with the English words Overseas Feeling in flamboyant, cursive script.
Read more.

4.The Making Of Sonic_Bed Shanghai
By Kaffe Matthews (sound artist and musician)

‘I’ve long been interested in the physical experience of music and have made two sonic armchairs that combine the vibrational sensations of music perception with the aural to make new compositions. These chairs, with speakers immersed under their upholstery, create situations that transform the listening experience for the sitter, turning “weird” or “boring” music into something meaningful.
Read more

5.Flower Echoes
By Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner (conceptual artist, writer and musician)

The hum of a city is seemingly inescapable, that unnatural hovering electrical fog that invades every space, and as if in defeat, all we can do is mask it, neutralising it through the use of televisions, radios, CD players, at battle with a force seemingly beyond us.
Read more

6.PROJECT DIARY
By Robert Jarvis (sound artist and musician)

WEDNESDAY, 31 AUGUST 2005
Autumn Tigers
This first day has mostly been concerned with the sorting out of various technical details such as choosing the best loudspeakers for the sound installation and sorting out internet access for my hotel apartment.
Read more

7.Favourite Sounds Of Beijing And The Sonic Bicycle Ride
By Peter Cusack (sound artist/recordist and musician)

Beijing wind
In Beijing, the sound I like best is the sigh of the wind. Now there are more and more buildings, thus less wind. And the buildings become increasingly high. Therefore the wind becomes less heavy.
Read more

8.Beijing Water Writing
By David Toop (musician, writerand curator)

Why should the passing sound of a city be important? If we possess eyesight and touch, then why should we even trouble to give any significant attention to a sense impression that is just the side effect of city life, movement, and human communication?
Read more

9.Sound And The City lecture series
Guest: Brian Eno (muscian, producer and collaborator)

I came to Beijing in March. It was my first trip to China and it was a completely new experience. For me, one of the most interesting aspects is the relationship between the seniors in China and the Chinese society, because I’m hardly young myself now.
Read more