Photography by Kamal Badhey

Sonic Rebellions held its inaugural two day conference in May 2022 at the University of Brighton. Featuring a variety of academics, artists, and activists addressing the question: what is the relationship between sound and social justice? Contributors spoke to a variety of research areas including cultural, media and sound studies, political philosophy, policy, economics and psychoanalysis. Contributors included academics, artists and/or activists who presented in different mediums including interactive workshops, installations, music presentations and discussion panels. Audio mediums included: ♫ UK Drill ♫ Soundsystems ♫ Grime ♫ Electronic ♫ Mixtaping ♫ Soundscapes ♫ Jungle ♫ Djembe drumming ♫ Immersive installations ♫ Social media Social issues that were prevalent across the interactive workshops and panel discussions included decoloniality and anti-racism, the criminal justice system, capitalism, migration and borders, solidarity and protest. The keynote speaker was Lowkey MC, an icon in the UK hip hop scene, who shared his thoughts on the music industry and streaming platforms, rap as expression and Grenfell. His message was 'resistance is fertile not futile.' Sonic Rebellions is now preparing for its next projects, which will be updated here as they develop. In the meantime you can find a link to a JISC Mailing List to stay in touch. Watch this space!