Sound Across Time: Exploring Sound, Technology and Human Experience
This Humlab panel brings together researchers from archaeology, engineering and artistic research to explore these questions from different perspectives. Moving from the reconstruction of prehistoric soundscapes and Leonardo da Vinci's musical inventions to contemporary experiments with interactive music technologies, the three contributions examine how sound can be studied, recreated and transformed. Together, they open a discussion about the relationship between sound, technology and human experience across time.
Margarita Díaz-Andreu is a Spanish archaeologist and ICREA Research Professor of Archaeology at the University of Barcelona. She has an extensive international academic career, including a position at Durham University (1996–2011), and has received several prestigious awards, such as the Menéndez Pidal National Award for the Humanities in 2021 and the Neubergh Award from the University of Gothenburg in 2022.
Among her research interests, her work on archaeoacoustics is particularly relevant to our HUMlab panel. She was the principal investigator of the ERC-funded Artsoundscapes project (2018–2025), which explored the role of sound in prehistoric and protohistoric societies, particularly its relationship with sacred experiences.
She will discuss the possibilities of reconstructing sounds from the past through archaeology and the importance of considering sensory perception when interpreting the archaeological record.
Plinio Innocenzi is full professor of Materials Science at the University of Sassari (Italy) and Director of the Laboratory of Materials Science and Nanotechnology (LMNT). He has an extensive international academic career, including a Fellowship at Kyoto University, Japan, and visiting professorships at universities in France, Japan, Argentina, China and United Arab Emirates. He was also a founding member of the International Sol-Gel Society and served on its Board of Directors. He is member of the European Academy of Sciences.
Plinio’s work on Leonardo da Vinci combines his expertise in materials science and engineering with his passion for Leonardo’s inventions. This will be his main contribution to the Humlab panel, where he will explore music in the Renaissance through Leonardo’s musical machines and the historical sources that inspired their design.
Anders Lind is a composer and associate Professor in music at the Department of Creative Studies at Umeå University (Sweden). His work has been performed and exhibited internationally, including in Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia and South Korea. His artistic research focuses on new media art and interactivity in contemporary music performance, particularly through projects such as Mobile Phone Orchestra and LINES, which explore how technology can reimagine the way music is performed and experienced.
Anders will bring a contemporary perspective to the Humlab panel, combining his experience as both a composer and a musician. His contribution will explore how technology and interactivity shape contemporary musical practices, completing the panel’s historical journey from human prehistory to contemporary experiences of music and sound.
Elisa Serrano-Ausejo is a PhD candidate in Education at Umeå University, Sweden, researching how immersive virtual reality experiences of the past relate to how we communicate history. Elisa is affiliated with Humlab, has a background in history and digital humanities, and is interested in how we reconstruct the past, particularly through digital methods. That interest was the starting point for this panel, which has since grown to cover sound and music, past and present.
