First Acoustic Memories

Eva Hallama (2023): “Acoustic Memory: Dictaphones, Voice Letters and the First Private Recordings”
Blok expertů KISK FF MUNI, Arne Nováka 1, Brno, Czech Republic
March 16, 2023

Since the turn of the 20th century, it has been possible to send spoken letters over long distances, even if the phonograph, the technical device for voice recording, was only affordable for a few, and the wax cylinder was not flat enough for mailing it by post. New inventions for recording the voice in the course of the 20th century produced new formats that could be sent more easily, such as self-cut discs or wire. The presentation aimed to highlight the sonic experiences that the cultural technique of the voice and dictation letter evoked at the beginning of the 20th century. Eva Hallama explored, how voice letters have been a vehicle for staying in touch over long distances and how these objects created sonic memories of the absent world as they carried their acoustic tracks over distances and time.