Upcoming Events

SCREENING: Sisters with Transistors

Sisters with Transistors tells the remarkable untold story of the pioneering women who shaped electronic music, crafting the sounds and technologies that define the genre today. Narrated by Laurie Anderson, the film delves into the lives and work of trailblazing composers such as Clara Rockmore, Delia Derbyshire, Pauline Oliveros, Wendy Carlos, Laurie Spiegel, and Suzanne Ciani, among others, whose experiments with early synthesizers, tape manipulation, and unconventional soundscapes pushed the boundaries of musical composition.

 

  1. May 7, 2025 - 7:00pm to 9:30pm
CISM in the Archive: Archive Khanah: Kurdish Media History and the Role of Cassettes in Iraq - Hardi Kurda (Goldsmiths, University of London, Music)

Archive Khanah, part of SPACE21 Sound Gallery in Slemani, is an experimental archival project exploring Kurdish cassette culture. Using colour organization and gaming, it challenges institutional archives by emphasizing community-driven preservation. By redefining media circulation, diasporic memory, and sonic history, it demonstrates how displaced communities rely on alternative media to sustain cultural continuity. The project not only reimagines Kurdish archival structures but also deepens our understanding of how media circulates within and beyond Kurdish communities.

 

  1. May 14, 2025 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm

The Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM) is an association of faculty and students at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) that promotes the study of music across academic disciplines. CISM begins with the position that music is an important and powerful cultural practice, which becomes fundamental in shaping the materialities and methods of social life. By sponsoring diverse projects that engage multiple fields of knowledge, CISM works to expand the boundaries of traditional music research by creating an environment for high-level study and discussion of music that is not restricted to specialists.