The Her Noise Archive is one of our most popular and consulted collections. Although we have written about it in previous blogs, its potential for research deserves further attention as it is such a multifaceted and interesting resource.
The Archive
In 2005 Lina Džuverović and Anne Hilde Neset co-curated the Her Noise exhibition, along with other contributors, which took place at the South London Gallery with further events at Tate Modern and the Goethe-Institut. The exhibition featured new artist commissions, alongside an archive of books and other material. It was hoped that they would create a long-lasting resource that showcased women’s contribution to Sound Arts and one of the legacies of the project is the archive.
On completion of the tour, the material created and collected as a result of the research and curation of the exhibition was donated to the Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice (or CRiSAP) research centre at the London College of Communication by Lina Dzuverovic, Anne Hilde Neset and Irene Revell. The archive is now stored and accessed at the UAL Archives and Special Collections Centre.
The Her Noise Archive is a great resource for women’s’ voices and their contributions to Sound Arts and there are also several examples of LGBTQ+ related material in this varied archive.
Emma Hedditch is an artist and experimental film-maker, and was involved in the Cinenova archive. According to information in our online catalogue, her involvement contributed to the selection of historically important gay and lesbian, as well as feminist films, initially included in the archive.
Hedditch was one of the main commissioned artists for the exhibition, but she was also responsible for the Her Noise Archive when it was exhibited at the South London Gallery in 2005. The Archive includes material from the development of the exhibition at the South London Gallery, from the early discussions to the development of the zine collection.
In an interview (see video below) about the Her Noise Archive project, Hedditch highlighted that “it’s quite understated, but also has produced a lot of really interesting discussions and its involved a lot of people and people feel that they have access to it and its their archive […] a shared owned project”.
Her Noise Interview | Emma Hedditch
Emma Heddith, Her Noise Interview - Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice (or CRiSAP) research centre.
Zine Collection
The zine collection (document reference HN/2/1/1/2/2) highlights the utilisation of DIY culture as a form of the expression and circulation of ideas as part of the Her Noise Archive project. It also offer a snapshot in time of the creation of alternative networks for communication.
Organisers Dzuverovic, Revell and Hedditch collected zines and contributed to zine culture, and a small selection is represented in the collection. One zine that struck me was the boldly-titled How Queer are you? among other ideas explored in the collection. It completely embodies a DIY approach to exploring identity politics.
Separate to this, we have a VHS of She's Real Worse Than Queer (directed by Lucy Thane, 1997), which discusses the creation of the Queercore scene and its impact on the lives of the women interviewed. It included performances by Tribe 8, Ce Be Barns Band, Fifth Column, Cheesecake, Team Dresch, The Third Sex, Phranc. If you’re interested in watching this, you can view it part one and part two online on an external website.
On reflection, the Her Noise Archive is a rich resource which encompasses many different voices and viewpoints of women in Sound Arts. With many potential avenues for research, it is also a source of inspiration for creative practice. The presence of LGBTQ+ related material means it is also a great resource for future intersectional research in this area.