How does diagramming noise as it occurs/conceptually crystalizes in different realms, help our understanding of it (in other realms)? How do we even diagram noise? What is noise in a diagram? In order to investigate these questions we have held several diagramming workshops as an open door into noise’s multidisciplinary (re)interpretation. These events bring together academic and independent, science, art, and design practitioners looking to examine the complexity of phenomena ranging from cognition to corporeality and culture, through the lens of noise. What has emerged is an innovative methodology taking the collective elaboration of cutting-edge theories and conceptual experimentation outside of the academic ivory tower. We consider this diagrammatic methodology to constitute a new form of collective pedagogy. Essentially, it is a means for the externalization of thought processes that is unconstrained from the discursive settings in which these are usually framed, allowing for diverse approaches to the same subject matter to be bridged, often through intuitive (sub-)symbolic gestures, and a more fluid capacity for group discovery and invention on the spot (“this line connects those two thoughts!” or “no, that should be a square” or “more shading here, please!”). The workshops led by the NRU since December 2021 have taken place at: SOOPA (Porto, Portugal), Café OTO (London, United Kingdom), STRP Festival (Eindhoven, Netherlands), SSTRAPP, Bidston Observatory (Birkenhead, United Kingdom). These organizations provided the preliminary financial support for the public workshops of the NRU.
The diagramming workshops have a very simple setup: the participants divide in groups after agreeing on themes to discuss, and start collectively sketching their thoughts on paper, finding ways to simply and readably render the streams of discussions they generate. The workshops have had different lengths and intensities, ranging from 2h sessions to week-long activities. When planning activities for longer stretches of time, the participants always engage with sonic and performative activities that allow embodied knowledge to feed back into the theoretical work necessary for the production of the diagrams.
The diagrams can be thought of as ‘scores’ for thinking transversally, for negotiating a common ground while discussing theory among people with different backgrounds, bringing together different understandings of noise-related topics. They present thematics that can be articulated in discursive and compositional ways, but mostly: they offer flexible and dynamic visual renditions of complex thoughts that open up aesthetic and educational possibilities, retaining a multidisciplinary tension that we wish to explore further. Please see: zines. Documentation