Summary
This “farewell” podcast episode was recorded live at the SpokenWeb Institute on May 17, 2025, at the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus, Kelowna, BC. Producers Nick Beauchesne and Chelsea Miya, with host Maia Harris, lead an audio-visual journey exploring the roots and evolution of SpokenWeb’s Symposia and Institutes from 2019 through 2025.
“The SpokenWeb Symposia Retrospective: Celebrating Sound Studies Since 2013” presents original voice, sound, and music from SpokenWeb collaborators (including Ali Barillaro, Nix Nihil, and Jason Camlot); clips from past Symposia manifestos; live panel guests (including Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, Karis Shearer, and Klara du Plessis); pre-recorded interview segments (including Jordan Abel, Oana Avasilichioaei, Annie Murray, Jason Wiens, Cole Mash, and Erin Scott); and a ShortCuts interlude featuring an “unarchiving” of Phyllis Webb combined with live flamenco dancing from Katherine McLeod–yes, you can dance in a podcast!
Join us as we “re-sound” some memorable moments from the Symposia and Institutes of SpokenWeb’s past. We will also look to the future, as our guests speculate on the legacies and possibilities of our research, creative performances, archives, and community.
Topics
In this episode, producers Nick Beauchesne and Chelsea Miya interview various SpokenWeb members and reminisce about past Symposia and Institutes.
- Introduction
- Pre-Recorded Interview with Annie Murray and Jason Wiens
- Live Panel with Jason Camlot and Katherine McLeod
- Pre-Recorded Interviews and Soundscapes with Jordan Abel and Oana Avasilichioaei
- ShortCuts Interlude with Katherine McLeod
- Pre-Recorded Interview with Cole Mash and Erin Scott
- Live Panel with Karis Shearer and Klara du Plessis
- Conclusion
- Credits
Show Notes
The SpokenWeb theme music was composed by Jason Camlot, with vocals performed by Ali Barillaro. She recorded a new version for this live show Redux, over a beat produced by Nix Nihil.
In the ShortCuts interlude, Katherine McLeod danced to a remix by Jason Camlot of Phyllis Webb reading “Rilke” in Montreal in 1966.
Myron Campbell hosted the “Draw by Night” event on the first night of the SpokenWeb 2025 Institute. UBC Okanagan student Evan Berg designed the SpokenWeb Logo. The design work and branding package for the Re-Sounding Poetries Conference is by Mikah Assaly.
Conference illustration is by artist Reuban Scott, whose work you can find on Instagram at @roobtoons.
Camlot, Jason, and Katherine McLeod, editors. CanLit Across Media: Unarchiving the Literary Event. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773559813.
Camlot, Jason and Katherine McLeod. “Introduction: New Sonic Approaches in Literary Studies.” ESC: English Studies in Canada, vol. 46 no. 2, 2020, p. 1-18. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/esc.2020.a903552.
Camlot, Jason. “Listening Practice Guided by Jason Camlot – Disciplinary Listening: Does Literature have an Audile Technique?” The SpokenWeb [website], September 18, 2019, https://spokenweb.ca/events/listening-practice/.
McFarland, Joe. “Schulich Professor Says Municipalities around the World Are Learning Lessons from Calgary’s 2024 Water Feeder Main Break.” UCalgary News, January 7, 2025. https://ucalgary.ca/news/schulich-professor-says-municipalities-around-world-are-learning-lessons-calgarys-2024-water-feeder.
McLeod, Katherine. “SpokenWeb Concordia Has Launched Ghost Reading Series” [blog post]. SpokenWeb Concordia, December 1, 2018, https://spokenweb.ca/spokenweb-concordia-has-launched-ghost-reading-series/.
Murray, Annie, and Jared Wiercinski. “A Design Methodology for Web-based Sound Archives.” Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 2 (2014), https://dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/8/2/000173/000173.html.
Music and Sound Effects
“Sounding Out!” by Jordan Abel, Conyer Clayton, Manahil Bandukwala, Liam Burke, and Nathanael Larochette, performed and recorded live at the SpokenWeb Symposium 2023 at the University of Alberta, May 2, 2024.
“Operator” by Oana Avasilichioaei, performed and recorded live at the 2019 SpokenWeb Sound Institute at Simon Fraser University.
Chalice by Blue Dot Sessions.
“Culpable Tranquility” by Nix Nihil and Psyoptic. Used with permission from the artist.
“Canadian Cicada (Okanagana canadensis)” by Wil Hershberger, Songs of Insects, https://songsofinsects.com/.
“Sunwaves” by Nix Nihil and Psyoptic. Used with permission from the artist.
Soundfx from freesound.org:
“Creek Swimming,” by JazzyBay, (https://freesound.org/people/JazzyBay/sounds/435055/), licensed under Creative Commons.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our live and pre-recorded guests for sharing their stories and memories of the SpokenWeb: Annie Murray, Jason Wiens, Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, Jordan Abel, Oana Avasilichioaei, Cole Mash, Erin Scott, Karis Shearer, and Klara du Plessis.
We are grateful for the support of the talented 2025 SpokenWeb Institute organizing committee and tech team: in particular, Erin Scott, Garth Evans, and Kailee Fawcett, who helped in countless ways behind the scenes to make the live show possible.
