After speaking with Emily about getting some more research, she mentioned looking through a module guide from last year Practices of Listening to see the reading list, and find some books I could look at. These included Sound by Caleb Kelly (2011), Soundscape by L and J. Sider, and D. Freeman (2003), Noise, Water, Meat by Douglas Kahn (2001) and Sonic Experience by J. F. Augoyard and H. Torgue (2005).
In Sound, Kelly speaks of drawing “attention to sound both in and around current art practice” (Kelly, 2011:13) whether that be purposely or from voices and footsteps, but many still don’t view ‘sound art’ as an established category; speaking throughout the book of the difficulties and misconceptions many people and artists have with it. “Sound is now an integral aspect of art… yet it’s presence is too often ignored” (Kelly, 2011:13) we as an audience can not close off our ears, it is a sense that never stops working, voluntarily, as sound is all around us and we hear it all, warranted or not, so why not bring both the hearing and visual together. A strategy developed from Max Neuhaus and John Cage is that of ‘Sound Walks’ which is a way to help the audience pay more attention to the sounds around them, those that they would not normally notice in every day life – drawing them in. This strategy is important to artists as many people do not realise the importance of sound, especially in this context as sound has proven to be the sense that involves art, expanding on what ‘art’ can actually be; it’s not always just about the visual. In Noise, Water, Meat a book stating that “none of the arts is entirely mute… despite their apparent silence” Kahn says “Wherever they might occur among the arts, noises – interchangeable, soundful and figurative, loud, disruptive… – and noises silenced, suppressed, sought after… always pertain to a complex of contexts… as such, they become significant.” (Kahn, 2001:20). Although Kelly sees sound art not being established as a category all in it’s own is not entirely a negative, this being because it means there is no boundaries, no restrictions or rules; sound can become a piece of art all in it’s own or be brought together with another form of art, such as my own project.
“The aim of a repeat in music, and particularly a leitmotiv or a reiterated theme, it to create a sort of anamnesia in the listener… musical art consists precisely in the magnification of an emotional path leading to that return” (Augoyard and Torgue, 2005:23) – anamnesia is a semiotic effect, a particular sonic context causing an effect of reminiscence, which applies in soundscapes as using recordings that appear, for example, in the opening segment and then as the piece is finishing you hear that sound again and it links any emotion and understanding all together. On the topic of sounds that lead me to how others go about the process of inspiration, what comes first, and how you know what’s right. In the Book Soundscape their is an interview with visual artist, musician and director David Lynch, who when asked how he got into sound said that it was painting; he wanted to be able to hear what he was painting, such as the movement of a flower from the wind (Sider et al, 2003:49). For Lynch himself he always starts with the picture first, because that is what gives him inspiration, and then from this it becomes what he describes as “action and reaction and you start seeing the picture change, because of the sounds you put with it.” (Sider et al, 2003:49). In my project I have been having the opposite approach because in the beginning I knew the style of the audio piece I wanted to create, and then from this my imagination started to run with what the art piece could be, but even though there are clearly many different ways in which this process can happen and what comes first, he states that there really isn’t any framework for this: getting in the ‘mood’ and knowing what’s right from the order of application to the sounds included, is just a feeling personal to the creator.
After doing more research into the history of sound art and some of the different views and processes artists have/use, it’s comforting knowing that it’s evident that there is no right or wrong in this. Sound and art really have no boundaries, and it is also important to show that they have no boundaries when put together. My project is not a reflection of one or the other, but a joining of two senses.
References:
Kahn, D. (2001) Noise, Water, Meat. Massachusetts: First MIT Press.
Augoyard, J. F. and Torgue, H. (2005) Sonic Experience. Canada: McGill Queens Uni Press.
Kelly, C. (2011) Sound. London: Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press.
Sider, L., Freeman, D. and Sider, J. (2003) Soundscape: The School of Sound Lectures 1998-2001. London: Wallflower Press.
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