SHARED SONIC MEMORY: Archives, techniques, and collaborations around sound design in theatre between France and Brazil

• Grant number: 25/13756-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: October 15, 2025
• End date: October 14, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Theatre
• Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Ferreira Cardoso Ribeiro Azevedo
• Grantee: Ana Cristine Wegner
• Supervisor: Marie-Madeleine Mervant-Roux
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/00933-1 - Technological Transitions in Theatrical Sound Design: Historical and Transcultural Perspectives (1970-2010), BP.PD

Abstract

This international research internship project is part of the ongoing postdoctoral research entitled Technological Transitions in Theatrical Sound Design: Historical and Transcultural Perspectives (1970-2010), supported by FAPESP. The aim is to study, from a comparative perspective, the effects of technical transformations - particularly the shift from analog to digital - on the aesthetics of stage productions in Brazil and France.The research is based on the archives of two major sound designers: Tunica Teixeira (1949-2021) and Daniel Deshays (1950), both authors of soundtracks for performances that have marked the theatrical history of their respective countries.The study analyzes how sound technologies - tools for recording, processing, and diffusion - influenced their creative work and the sonic design of theatrical productions, highlighting the circulation of these techniques across different cultural contexts.A research stay in France is essential to the development of this project. Three main objectives justify this mobility: access to previously unpublished sound design archives (notably those of Deshays), the development of academic collaborations with experts in theatrical sound, and the strengthening of institutional cooperation between Brazil and France around sound archives.Indeed, the Deshays collection (at the BnF) and the Teixeira collection (at the CDT - USP) are still in the process of being institutionalized. Comparing methods of processing, preservation, and dissemination in these two contexts will help consolidate the actions of the JP FAPESP project "Theatre Sound Archives", to which this postdoctoral research is linked.