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I love that sound arts is inherently hard to define.

The fact that the art form itself asks us so many questions gives us an almost infinite amount of room for experimentation. Take the work of Yoshi Sodeoka, Etienne Krähenbühl or Max Neuhaus, for example. Think about how different the experience of these artists work would be. Yet, I would still place most of their pieces in this sound arts puzzle. I would like to highlight some of my initial interests.

Although a lot of the works we have been shown during lectures thus far has been very traditional (created by white, bourgeois men), I believe sound arts to be limitlessly freeing. For around three years I have been watering down my work to make it have some sort of ‘musical correctness’, when in fact I should have been trying to find the sounds which resonate within myself.

I believe sound arts to be an intrinsically political form in the context of the 21st century. Everybody is aware of the lacking diversity there is in the history books, this is especially relevant to sound arts as it is still a relatively young practice. But in the short amount of time since sound arts was coined, progress has been made in giving voices to those who were previously voiceless. Though there is still work to be done, I have felt the warmth of passion about this topic when talking to peers in and around shows and exhibition spaces.

Roland Barthes the death of the author

Barthes suggests that the author only exists to prop up the idea of the critic, and the critic only exists to decipher the authors intention (p. 147, 1967). No-one learns in this case, as the text purely exists as a canvas to explore the author, instead of the text existing with themes worth exploring on their own merit.

Reference

Barthes R. (1967) Image, Music, Text. London: Fontana.

‘Three Tape Loops Destructing Over Three Hours’ and postmodernism

Hainbach is a German artist that I have been following for some time now, he uses vintage electronics to create experimental music. In the piece I would like to take a look at today, he uses reel to reel tape machines along with scalpels, knives and sandpaper to create the sound sculpture above. I think this pieces destructive, antiform nature alone could place it within postmodernism.

Although 3 hours might seem like a long time, this piece seeks to accelerate the fatal flaw of tape, its degradation. This decomposition would be happening to any tape being used normally over the span of years. However, choosing to display the process of such destruction highlights the temporality of sound, can sound truly last forever?

I like to imagine that if this piece was created for an exhibition space, people would be able to interact with the destruction of the tapes to give the piece a greater level of openness and audience participation. As artists we can use this work as a teacher and realise we don’t need to use every tool for its intended purpose. It is our intentions that will shape the work.