Art discipline that uses sound as a medium
Sound art
is an artistic activity in which
sound
is utilized as a primary
medium
or material. Like many genres of
contemporary art
, sound art may be
interdisciplinary
in nature, or be used in
hybrid
forms.
[1]
According to
Brandon LaBelle
, sound art as a practice "harnesses, describes, analyzes, performs, and interrogates the condition of sound and the process by which it operates."
[2]
In
Western art
, early examples include
Luigi Russolo
's
Intonarumori
or noise intoners (1913), and subsequent experiments by
dadaists
,
surrealists
, the
Situationist International
, and in
Fluxus
events and other
Happenings
. Because of the diversity of sound art, there is often debate about whether sound art falls within the domains of
visual art
or
experimental music
, or both.
[3]
Other artistic lineages from which sound art emerges are
conceptual art
,
minimalism
,
site-specific art
,
sound poetry
,
electro-acoustic music
,
spoken word
,
avant-garde
poetry,
sound scenography
,
[4]
and
experimental theatre
.
[5]
Origin of term
[
edit
]
According to
Bernhard Gal
's research, the first published use of the term was found in
Something Else Press
on the cover of their 1974 Yearbook.
[6]
The first use as the title of an exhibition at a major museum was 1979's "Sound Art" at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York
(MoMA), featuring
Maggi Payne
, Connie Beckley, and Julia Heyward.
[7]
The curator,
Barbara London
defined sound art as, "more closely allied to art than to music, and are usually presented in the museum, gallery, or alternative space."
[8]
Commenting on an exhibition called "Sound/Art" at The Sculpture Center in New York City in 1984 art historian
Don Goddard
noted: "It may be that sound art adheres to curator Hellermann's perception that 'hearing is another form of seeing,' that sound has meaning only when its connection with an image is understood...The conjunction of sound and image insists on the engagement of the viewer, forcing participation in real space and concrete, responsive thought, rather than illusionary space and thought."
[9]
Sound installation
[
edit
]
Sound installation is an
intermedia
and time-based art form. It is an expansion of an
art installation
in the sense that it includes the sound element and therefore the time element.
[10]
The main difference with a sound sculpture is that a sound installation has a three-dimensional space and the axes with which the different sound objects are being organized are not exclusively internal to the work, but also external.
[
citation needed
]
A work of art is an installation only if it makes a dialog with the surrounding space.
[
citation needed
]
A sound installation is usually
site-specific
, but sometimes it can be readapted to other spaces. It can be made either in closed or open spaces, and context is fundamental in determining how a sound installation will be aesthetically perceived.
[
citation needed
]
The difference between a regular art installation and a sound installation is that the latter contains a time element, which gives the visiting public the option to stay longer to explore the development of the sound over time.
[
citation needed
]
This temporal factor also gives the audience an incentive to explore the space more thoroughly and investigate the disposition of the different sounds in space.
[
citation needed
]
Sound installations sometimes use interactive art technology (
computers
,
sensors
,
mechanical
and
kinetic
devices, etc.), but they can also simply use sound sources placed at different points in space (such as
speakers
), or acoustic instrument materials such as piano strings played by a performer or by the public (see
Paul Panhuysen
).
[
citation needed
]
In the context of museums, this combination of interactive technology and multi-channel speaker distribution is sometimes referred to as
sound scenography
.
[11]
Sound structure in sound installations
[
edit
]
- The simplest sound form is a repeating sound loop. This is mostly used in
Ambient music
-like art, and in this case the sound is not the determinant factor of the art work.
- The most used sound structure is the
open form
, since the public can decide to experience a sound installation for just a few minutes or for a longer period of time. This obliges the artist to construct a sound organization that is capable of working well in both cases.
- There is also the possibility to have a linear sound structure, where sound develops in the same way as in a
musical composition
. This type of structure can be seen in interactive sound installations like "The Zone," created by the collaborative group Volumetric Units, which explores the phenomenological experience of hyperreal cyberspace
[12]
Sound sculpture
[
edit
]
Sound sculpture is an
intermedia
and time-based art form in which
sculpture
or any kind of art object produces
sound
, or the reverse (in the sense that sound is manipulated in such a way as to create a sculptural as opposed to temporal form or mass). Most often sound sculpture artists were primarily either
visual artists
or
composers
, not having started out directly making sound sculpture.
Cymatics
and
kinetic art
have influenced sound sculpture. Sound sculpture is sometimes
site-specific
.
[
citation needed
]
Bill Fontana's research on urban sound sculpture delves into the concept of shifting ambient noises within cityscapes to produce distinct auditory encounters. Through this approach, he modifies the surrounding soundscape, impacting how listeners perceive their environment while highlighting both the auditory and visual elements of a particular space.
[13]
Sound Artist and Professor of Art at
Claremont Graduate University
Michael Brewster
described his own works as "Acoustic Sculptures" as early as 1970.
[14]
Grayson described sound sculpture in 1975 as "the integration of visual form and beauty with magical, musical sounds through participatory experience."
[15]
Notable sound sculptures
[
edit
]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Harry Bertoia, Textured Screen, 1954
-
Panopticon
: The Singing Ringing Tree
-
The Blackpool High Tide Organ
-
-
-
-
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Szendy, Peter.
Listen: A History of Our Ears
, Fordham University Press, pp. 5-8
- ^
LaBelle, Brandon (2006).
Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art
(London and New York: Continuum), p. ix. ISBN 9780826418449
- ^
Goldsmith, Kenneth
.
Duchamp Is My Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of UbuWeb
,
Columbia University Press
, New York, p. 125.
- ^
Bruckner, Atelier (2010).
Scenography / Szenografie - Making spaces talk / Narrative Raume
. Stuttgart: avedition. p. 209.
- ^
Kenneth Goldsmith,
Duchamp Is My Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of
UbuWeb
, Columbia University Press, New York, p. 136.
- ^
Gal, Bernhard
(December 1, 2017). "Updating the History of Sound Art: Additions, Clarifications, More Questions".
Leonardo Music Journal
.
27
: 78?81.
doi
:
10.1162/LMJ_a_01023
.
S2CID
57559930
.
- ^
Dunaway, Judy
(May 7, 2020).
"The Forgotten 1979 MoMA Sound Art Exhibition"
.
Resonance
.
1
: 25?46.
doi
:
10.1525/res.2020.1.1.25
.
- ^
"Museum of Modern Art, Museum exhibition features works incorporating sound, press release no. 42 for Sound Art exhibition 25 June?5 August 1979". No. Exh. 1266. MoMA Archives.
- ^
Hellerman, William, and
Don Goddard
. 1983. Catalogue for "Sound/Art" at The Sculpture Center, New York City, May 1?30, 1984 and BACA/DCC Gallery June 1?30, 1984.
[
page needed
]
.
- ^
Ouzounian, Gascia (2008).
Sound art and spatial practices: situating sound installation art since 1958
. San Diego: UC.
- ^
Bruckner, Atelier (2010).
Scenography / Szenografie - Making spaces talk / Narrative Raume
. Stuttgart: avedition. p. 209.
- ^
Batsis, Dimitris; Bitsikas, Xenofon (2022-10-01).
"The Zone : A Study of Sound Art as Hyperreality"
.
Leonardo
.
55
(5): 508?511.
doi
:
10.1162/leon_a_02256
.
ISSN
0024-094X
.
S2CID
250706593
.
- ^
Fontana, Bill (2008).
"The Relocation of Ambient Sound: Urban Sound Sculpture"
.
Leonardo
.
41
(2): 154?158.
doi
:
10.1162/leon.2008.41.2.154
.
ISSN
0024-094X
.
JSTOR
20206556
.
S2CID
57558532
.
- ^
"Claremont Graduate University mourns loss of longtime art Professor Michael Brewster"
. Claremont Graduate University. 23 June 2016
. Retrieved
26 September
2021
.
- ^
Grayson, John (1975).
Sound sculpture : a collection of essays by artists surveying the techniques, applications, and future directions of sound sculpture
. A.R.C. Publications. p. V.
ISBN
0-88985-000-3
.
References
[
edit
]
- Kenneth Goldsmith
,
Duchamp Is My Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of UbuWeb
, Columbia University Press, New York
- Kahn, Douglas
. 2001.
Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts
. Cambridge: MIT Press.
ISBN
0-262-61172-4
.
- Licht, Alan
. 2007.
Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories
(with accompanying compact disc recording). New York: Rizzoli International Publications.
ISBN
0-8478-2969-3
.
- Peter Szendy. 2008.
Listen: A History of Our Ears
, Fordham University Press
- Brandon LaBelle. 2006.
Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art
, London & New York: Continuum.
ISBN
9780826418449
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Attali, Jacques
. 1985.
Noise: The Political Economy of Music
, translated by
Brian Massumi
, foreword by
Fredric Jameson
, afterword by
Susan McClary
. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
ISBN
0-8166-1286-2
(cloth)
ISBN
0-8166-1287-0
(pbk.)
- Bandt, Ros. 2001.
Sound Sculpture: Intersections in Sound and Sculpture in Australian Artworks
. Sydney: Craftsman House.
ISBN
1-877004-02-2
.
- Cage, John
. 1961. "Silence: Lectures and Writings". Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. (Paperback reprint edition 1973,
ISBN
0-8195-6028-6
)
- Cox, Christoph. 2003. "
Return to Form: Christoph Cox on Neo-modernist Sound Art?Sound?Column
."
Artforum
(November): [pages].
- Cox, Christoph. 2009.
"Sound Art and the Sonic Unconscious"
.
Organised Sound
14, no. 1:19?26.
- Cox, Christoph. 2011.
"Beyond Representation and Signification: Toward a Sonic Materialism"
.
Journal of Visual Culture
10, no. 2:145?161.
- Cox, Christoph, and Daniel Warner (eds.). 2004.
Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music
. New York: Continuum.
ISBN
0-8264-1615-2
.
- Drobnick, Jim (ed.). 2004.
Aural Cultures
. Toronto: YYZ Books; Banff: Walter Phillips Gallery Editions.
ISBN
0-920397-80-8
.
- Groth, Sanne Krogh, and Holger Schulze (eds.). 2020.
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sound Art
. New York: Bloomsbury.
ISBN
978-1-5013-3879-3
.
- Hegarty, Paul
. 2007.
Noise Music
: A History
. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
ISBN
978-0-8264-1726-8
(hardcover)
ISBN
978-0-8264-1727-5
(pbk)
- Jensenius, Alexander Refsum; Lyons, Michael, eds. (2017).
A NIME Reader: Fifteen Years of New Interfaces for Musical Expression
.
Springer
.
ISBN
978-3-319-47214-0
.
- Keylin, Vadim. 2023.
Participatory Sound Art: Technologies, Aesthetics, Politics
. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
ISBN
978-981-99-6357-7
- Kim-Cohen, Seth. 2009.
In the Blink of an Ear: Toward a Non-Cochlear Sonic Art
. New York: Continuum.
ISBN
978-0-8264-2971-1
- LaBelle, Brandon. 2006.
Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art
. New York and London: The Continuum International Publishing Group.
ISBN
0-8264-1844-9
(cloth)
ISBN
0-8264-1845-7
(pbk)
- Licht, Alan. 2019.
Sound Art Revisited
. London: Bloomsbury.
ISBN
978-150-13-3313-2
- Lander, Dan, and
Micah Lexier
(eds.). 1990.
Sound by Artists
. Toronto: Art Metropole/Walter Phillips Gallery.
- Lucier, Alvin
, and Douglas Simon. 1980.
Chambers
. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.
ISBN
0-8195-5042-6
.
- Nechvatal, Joseph
. 2000. "Towards a Sound Ecstatic Electronica".
The Thing
.
- Oliveros, Pauline
. 1984.
Software for People
. Baltimore: Smith Publications.
ISBN
0-914162-59-4
(cloth)
ISBN
0-914162-60-8
(pbk)
- Paik, Nam June. 1963. "Post Music Manifesto," Videa N Videology. Syracuse, New York: Everson Museum of Art.
- Peer, Rene van. 1993.
Interviews with Sound Artists
. Eindhoven:
Het Apollohuis
.
- Rogers, Holly. 2013.
Sounding the Gallery: Video and the Rise of Art-Music
. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Schaefer, Janek
, Bryan Biggs, Christoph Cox, and Sara-Jayne Parsons. 2012. "Janek Schaefer: Sound Art: A Retrospective". Liverpool: The Bluecoat.
ISBN
978-0-9538896-8-6
.
- Schafer, R. Murray. 1977.
The Soundscape
. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books.
ISBN
0-89281-455-1
- Schulz, Berndt (ed.). 2002.
Resonanzen: Aspekte der Klangkunst
. Heidelberg: Kehrer.
ISBN
3-933257-86-7
. (Parallel text in German and English)
- Skene, Cameron. 2007. "
Sonic Boom
".
The Montreal Gazette
(13 January).
- Toop, David
. 2004.
Haunted Weather: Music, Silence, and Memory
. London: Serpent's Tail.
ISBN
1-85242-812-0
(cloth),
ISBN
1-85242-789-2
(pbk.)
- Valbonesi, Ilari.
A.A.A.A.A.A.A. Cercasi Sound Art
. ARTE E CRITICA, ISSUE 64, (2010)
- Voegelin, Salome. 2010.
Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art
. London: Bloomsbury.
ISBN
978-144-11-6207-6
- Wilson, Dan. 2011. "
Sonics in the Wildernesses ? A Justification
."
The Brooklyn Rail
(April)
- Wishart, Trevor
. 1996.
On Sonic Art
, new and revised edition, edited by Simon Emmerson (with accompanying compact disc recording). Contemporary Music Studies 12. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers.
ISBN
3-7186-5846-1
(cloth)
ISBN
3-7186-5847-X
(pbk.)
ISBN
3-7186-5848-8
(CD recording)
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General
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Instruments &
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People &
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Premodern
(Western)
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Modern
(1863?1944)
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1900?1914
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1915?1944
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Contemporary
and
Postmodern
(1945?present)
| 1945?1959
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1960?1969
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1970?1999
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present
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Related topics
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