ExhibitionSep 18, 2026-Oct 11, 2026
In September 2026, music researchers from the University of Oslo will take over the Pop-up Studio at the Nobel Peace Center, filling the space with the exhibition SONIC CITIZENSHIP
Through a series of short films, music, and images, they transform the room into an immersive, multisensory, audiovisual exhibition and a site for critical listening and reflection on themes of citizenship, belonging, and social justice.
Conceptualized around the notion of sonic citizenship, defined as the communal production of acoustic spaces by those without sustained access to political power (Andrisani 2017), the exhibition explores what happens when spaces for participation are denied. It considers how sound and its constitutive counterpart, silence, can resist alienation, open up new collective potentials, and expose the sonic mechanisms that obstruct or become new possibilities in democratic practice.
All are welcome to visit the Pop-Up Studio at the Nobel Peace Center to tune into some songs, sounds, and stories that mediate community, critical consciousness, and hope.
Entrance to the exhibition is free.
sonic citizenship
“The concept of sonic citizenship foregrounds sound and listening
– through language, vocalization, rhythm, melody or silence –
as an integral part of how we imagine and generate processes of belonging.”
Cathcart Frödén, Herrity & Mangaoang,
Sound and Detention: Towards Critical Listening, Sonic Citizenship, and Social Justice, 2026: 3.
About the researchers
The exhibition is curated by Áine Mangaoang, Lucy Cathcart Frödén, Peter Edwards and the research projects Prisons of Note and Democracy of Silence.
Key dates:
Exhibition Opening Launch:
Friday 18 September, 2026 15:00-17:00
Drop-in all-ages workshop:
Saturday 19 September, 2026 12:00-14:00,
The exhibition follows the opening hours of the museum
Pop-Up Studio
This exhibition is on view in the Pop-Up Studio at the Nobel Peace Center. Here, we lend out exhibition space free of charge to give others a voice, so that together we can speak more and louder about those who contribute to a more peaceful world. Together, we can give hope a voice.
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