The World According to Sound: Ways of Knowing

On 15 April 2026, at 5pm in 102 Scales, Wake Forest will host a live immersive audio show by Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett of The World According to Sound project. With co-sponsorship from the Wake the Arts Center; University Marketing and Communications; and the Departments of Art, English, History, Journalism, Religious Studies, and Philosophy, the Ways of Knowing show offers a close listening experience that transforms humanistic knowledge into “soundscapes that challenge you to rethink the world through your ears instead of your eyes.” 

The World According to Sound: Ways of Knowing is a 70-minute sound installation that showcases the forms of knowledge produced by the arts and humanities, followed by a Q&A with the creators, radio producers, Chris Hoff and Sam Barnett, who host a podcast on humanities research with the same title. The piece is an experience of close listening that they describe as follows: “For 70 minutes you are going to put on an eye mask, sit in the dark, and be taken on a sonic trip that asks you to rethink the world through your ears instead of your eyes. You’ll hear everything from the vibrations of the Golden Gate Bridge, footsteps of ants, and ancient Latin, to the first piece of musique concrète, a recording of Berlin made in 1930, a sonified essay about the gendering of glial cells, and the theory of how push buttons and Tupperware act as media objects. All the pieces in the show are informed by contemporary humanities research and  scholarship, and rendered into soundscapes for an octophonic speaker array.”

This is a fantastic event for faculty, staff, and students to experience scholarship in an entirely new way.

Tickets are free and available here: