DONOSTIA NOISE
"Ezer ez ta zarata, iñor ez ta geriza" (Nothing is noise, no-one is shelter). Traditional Basque saying

DONOSTIA NOISE is a workshop that seeks to explore some of the approaches to aurality and urban planning. Focusing on common, intimate and private areas, the event seeks to analyse the links between a city such as Donostia and noise, and by extension the policies and behaviour patterns (on the part of both institutions and residents) arising from them.

What is noise? Is noise the same in Donostia and, for example, Bilbao? How do the people of Donostia suffer noise, if indeed they do? What type of solutions can be found to noise-related problems? Does noise change the idiosyncrasies of a city? What noises are acceptable and what noises are not?
How do these values affect the day-to-day lives of the city's people? And their perception of the city?

Starting from research on the matter conducted by experts such as Jonathan Sterne, R. Murray Schaffer, Barry Blesser, Ultra-Red, Brandon Labelle, Escoitar, Ricardo Atienza and Karin Bijsterveld, this workshop seeks to work on the resulting knowledge, which is often restricted to the academic and university sphere, through more creative, horizontal methods. Accordingly, it seeks to break the conventional teacher/student link and show how these readings are developed in everyday life. By questioning and discussing rather than teaching lessons, many different results can be obtained, the bounds of the initial readings can be extended and completed with local conditioning factors from the location where the workshop takes place.

Method
The workshop focuses on two key issues:

The first is horizontal teaching methods: learning in groups without being "taught a lesson". Accordingly, the sessions are organised in rounds of questions and text commentaries. Two main texts will be analysed each day, accompanied by two more related texts. All these texts will be provided in advance to confirmed attendees, who are advised to read them before the workshop begins. There will also be sessions involving watching and listening to a range of audiovisual material, plus practical activities in the city, some of them guided by different agents.

The second is the application of aural studies to the acoustic space where the workshop takes place. Making use of knowledge that often remains within institutions and applying it to the everyday world. Making the acoustic environment that surrounds attendees a topic for study by everyone present.