October 2021 – JC’s Sound Arts

– Week 4 –

Sound Art in the British Context

Introduction

Sound Art in the British context is an unfinished, constantly developing story.

“What I’m trying out at this stage of my life is new formats, or new settings maybe, or formats and settings that have been tried before but then been forgotten or pushed aside because established formats
have such a powerful hold on our thinking.” ( Toop p.582)

This article is an interview with David Toop made in 2014.

Summary

Toop finds “sound art” problematic. 1. The economy of the art world. (issues of value – e.g. Banksy, Monet, exclusive, elitist, class, privilege, crime, capitalism, status of artists, precarity, austerity)- provide examples and case studies to back up your argument. 2. The creation of an object (even if a text, concept, or installation) – “sound work was always about a process”

Reflection and Discussion

There are a few contradictions in Toop’s discourse – on one hand, he talks about how process and artistic process should be a natural instinct rather than a job. By characterizing art as “work” he sets up barriers, and is then complicit in the capitalist appropriation of “art”. On the other hand, making art takes practice, and is hard work – art is a practice, a skill, a technique

Questions

“Sound art” first used in 1983? Where? By whom?

Who is David Toop?

Is all expensive art money laundering? Tax havens?

Glossary

Orthodox – “Following or conforming to the traditional or generally accepted rules or beliefs of a religion, philosophy, or practice.” (Oxford Languages Definition)

Problematize – “Make into or regard as a problem requiring a solution.” (Oxford Languages Definition)

– Week 5 –

Sound in Japan

“Sound holds a special place in Japan. The country’s distinctive
aural signatures are closely bound to its history, nature, and
culture.” (p.654)

Introduction

aural signatures – the relationship of these to history, nature and culture of Japan.

contrast between rural tradition (serenity) and urban hyper-modernism (noise)

“They do not pose a contradiction, but reflect two views into the same thing. Noise is not considered an “other” to silence.” (.ibid)

Conclusion / Future Work

Explore the state of Japan’s sociocultural conditions, its oppressive and conservative nature, and how it has altered throughout history and how that could’ve influenced certain themes in art amongst Japanese artists.

Questions

Japanese tunings and time signatures – do the latter exist?

Glossary

shishi-odoshi: (鹿威し) (‘scaredeer’ or ‘scareboar’) Referenced in “Kill Bill“, “Final Fantasy”. Relation to scarecrows.

wabi-sabi:

“Wabi sabi is an aesthetic ideal and philosophy that is best understood in terms of the Zen philosophy that has nurtured and molded its development over the last thousand years. Zen seeks artistic expression in forms that are as pure and sublime as the Zen tenets they manifest; it eschews intellectualism and pretense and instead aims to unearth and frame the beauty left by the ﬂows of nature. Wabi sabi embodies the Zen nihilist cosmic view and seeks beauty in the imperfections found as all things, in a constant state of ﬂux, evolve from nothing and devolve back to nothing.
(Juniper 2003:1)

“Long ago a man out walking encountered a hungry tiger, which proceeded to chase and corner him at the edge of a small precipice. The man jumped to avoid the impending danger and in so doing managed to catch the limb of a tree growing from the small escarpment. While he hung there he became aware of a second tiger, this one at the foot of the precipice, waiting for him to fall. As his strength began to wane the man noticed a wild strawberry that was growing within his reach. He gently brought it to his lips in the full knowledge that it would be the last thing that he ever ate— how sweet it was.” (.ibid)

onomatopoeia: a word that actually looks like the sound it makes, and we can almost hear those sounds as we read. Here are some words that are used as examples of onomatopoeia: slam, splash, bam, babble, warble, gurgle, mumble, and belch.

– Week 7 –

Touching Sound Art: Curatorial Practices in West Germany

Summary

“By taking these exhibitions as case studies, this essay considers the crucial role of the sense of touch, coupled with the importance of the conjunction between the senses of sight and hearing”.

“ability to mechanize and automate the connection between seeing and hearing. The fascination with automation laid the foundations for a visual
and sonorous event free of human interference in its operation.”

Inside the White Cubbe: The ldeology of the Gallery Space by the artist Brian O’Doherty. Published just a few years before the exhibition in Berlin, O’Doherty’s book discussed the mediated environment of the modernist gallery which is in fact integrated into the artworks, content.

“the exhibitions mentioned here emphasised the senses of sight, hearing and touch and yet the discourse around those events as well as the remaining documentary material is primarily visually driven” (p512)

“the connection between arts and crafts?

Artists

Luigi Russolo

Man Ray

Christina Kubisch

Bernard Leitner

Critical Reflection

more ontology: “a category which incorporated technological developments in music reproduction and electronic instruments” (Noy p511)

Klangobjekte – “where composers and visual artists used mechanical and electronic techniques” (ibid)

References

Akademie der Künste (1980) Für Augen und Ohren : von der Spieluhr zum akustischen Environment ; Objekte, Installationen, Performances in der Akademie der Künste.

DeBord, G (1967) Society of the Spectacle. publisher?

O’Doherty (??) Inside the White Cube: The ldeology of the Gallery Space . publisher?

Glossary

curator

Kantian

Greenbergian

Sonic Doing & Thinking

— Week 1 —

Ontology

Ontology is a philosophical sector which explores notions such as reality, being, becoming, and existence. Entailing questions revolving around how entities are grouped into basic categories, it also explores the variety of fundamental levels in which said entities exist.

Epistemology

Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, particularly exploring its scope, validity, and methods, as well as the difference between opinion and belief.

— Week 2 —

Off Site Soundwalk

On a trip to Forest Hill, we were introduced to the activity of soundwalking, which as defined by Hildegard Westerkamp is “… any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment.” While on this excursion, we were constantly in different areas and sceneries with blindfolds on, completely immersed in and focused on sound in our surroundings. Below is an unedited copy of my notes from the day, listing the location and exercise, followed by a few bullet points on what I observed.

Tunnel, standing still with blindfold

chains in the distance, high frequencies resonated the most and were the most audible, cut through the low traffic hums
walls rumbling as the train passed over
crinkling plastic
cars passing by making a reverb through the tunnel
bike chains clicking
reverb dampened a bit as larger groups of people walked through the center of the tunnel

Besides Train Tracks, standing still with blindfold

low frequencies of passing trains didn’t feel as heavy
distant hissing
very distant traffic

Blindfolded Walk #1, through museum and park, guided by friend

could hear when walking underneath things
could hear by dragging my feet on the ground if there were people/poles nearby; footsteps sounded different when closer to objects

Blindfolded Walk #2, through forest, guided by friend

much harder to determine what surroundings are like when there’s more silence
felt like less of an open space because objects felt significantly closer, felt less of a point of reference

Blindfolded Walk #3, through forest, guided by friend

with more sounds coming from both the left and right ears, scenery was much more easy to mentally paint out

– Week 9 –

Element 1; A Brief Reflection

In my time gathering field recordings for the hand-in, before I knew what I wanted my project to be about, I came to the realization that utilizing more humanly, organic noises in my piece would be of my interest as it occurred to me that something could be quite haunting about the distortion of something quite natural and familiar. My mind immediately traveled to the concept of dissociation and derealization; two things that many people have dealt with as a trauma response. I immediately began to develop ideas at a rapid pace and collected my own experiences with these feelings as well as other people’s to influence how I approached the project; as I wanted to make the piece more objective than a piece exclusively about my own personal experiences. Gathering all these ideas helped me formulate what to include in the project and how to structure it, for example, I knew I wanted there to be very little contrast in dynamics, as well as minimal variation in noise/sample usage, to mimic the haunting iterative ‘stuckness’ that people often feel in these mental states. The final piece only ended up consisting of 7 tracks; 4 field recordings and 3 synthesized noises, most of the ‘movement’ in the piece comes directly from the automation of volume, reverb, delay, equalization, and ring modulation. I am quite satisfied with how my piece came out and I look forward to what I can achieve in the future!

Element 2 Notes

– Week 11 –

“The pictures are better on radio”

In my opinion, this statement refers to how immersive radio can be, and how sound can depict certain atmospheres that (literal) pictures and visuals cannot. Sound as a medium, to me, provokes a higher level of mental stimulation, as the aforementioned ‘pictures’ can only be created by the listeners’ own interpretation, each unique interpretation reliant on every individual’s imagination, creativity, and past experiences. Speaking about radio specifically, it has evolved past exclusively broadcasting music and has branched out into things such as podcasts, sound arts, and everything in between- broadening the horizons of what radio once was, and now showcasing almost anything that includes sound.

– Week 12 –

“Foley is a unique sound effect technique that involves creating and “performing” everyday sounds for movies and television shows. Foley artists create these sounds in a recording studio during post-production, in synchrony with the picture, to enhance the quality of the audio.” (Masterclass Website)

Foley Examples:

Coconuts can be used to make the sound of horse(s) galloping
Frying bacon can emulate rain noises
Breaking celery can emulate the sound of breaking bones
Staple guns can emulate gunshots
Crinkling cellophane can emulate the sound of a campfire

– Week 13 –

With the theme of the Element 2 hand-in being “A Dream”, dreams not being something I experience much of, I feel like I could take this opportunity to create something completely fictional with no limits, as I don’t necessarily have the most real-world experience with dreams. I’ve also been thinking that creating something more lighthearted for this project might be fun as I’m very (and almost too) often trying to create something incredibly meaningful and ‘deep’.