Pieter-Paul Mortier of Stuk (Leuven) and Dave Driesmans of Kraak (Gent) are the initiators of ‘Displaced Sounds’. Pieter-Paul is explaining their project by email.
– what is Displaced Sounds and how did you come up with this idea?
Displaced Sounds is a series of night-time events (lectures, presentations, concerts) and exhibitions on sound and listening, organized by STUK, kraak and Q-O2. They focus on the undervalued 
role of ‘sound’ in our visually-oriented culture. It is an extremely varied, small-scale project in which people with wide-ranging artistic or scientific research questions meet one another and the public. The fun and challenging part of this project is that the programme is compiled by people from various backgrounds who all move out of their specialist or familiar environment.
– to what extent did field recordings already feature here?
Even though this was never a thread we set out to follow, the topic certainly attracts a great deal of attention. In the past we did feature some important guests from this particular field, e.g.: Aernoudt Jacobs, Steven Feld, Manu Holterbach & Michael Northam, Toshiya Tsunoda, BJ Nilsen, Jeph Jerman…
– why do you believe that field recordings are a topic worth researching?
Because it raises some underexposed aspects of our environment and society. I simply adore the idea of soundscapes and their often ephemeral nature. The topic occupies a most distinct, fascinating and defiant position in the world of music. It is also intriguing to see how such a relatively small field can boast so many different practices and approaches.