Background noise : perspectives on sound art / Brandon LaBelle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

LaBelle, Brandon.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sound in art.

Site-specific art.

Performance art.

Arts, Modern--20th century.

Arts, Modern.

Physical Description:

xviii, 316 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Perspectives on sound art

Place of Publication:

New York : Continuum International, 2006.

Summary:

Background Noise follows the development of sound as an artistic medium and illustrates how sound is put to use within modes of composition, installation, and performance. While chronological in its structure, Brandon LaBelle's book is informed by spatial thinking, weaving architecture, environments, and the specifics of location into the work of sound, with the aim of formulating an expansive history and understanding of sound art.

At its center the book presupposes an intrinsic relation between sound and its location, galvanizing acoustics, sound phenomena, and the environmental with the tensions inherent in what LaBelle identifies as sound's relational dynamic. For the author, this is embedded within sound's tendency to become public expressed in its ability to travel distances, foster cultural expression, and define spaces while being radically flexible.

How does sound embed us within local environments while connecting us to a broader circumference? What consequence does sound art have for notions of spatiality and site-specific practice? Can we engage questions of identity and subjective experience in relation to listening and the resonance of place? Such questions are addressed through consideration of the work of a range of artists, musicians, performers, and composers, including Vito Acconci, Maryanne Amacher, Michael Asher, John Cage, Bill Fontana, Christof Migone, Max Neuhaus, Yasunao Tone, Achim Wollscheid, and Iannis Xenakis.

Intersecting material analysis with theoretical frameworks spanning art and architectural theory, performance studies, and media theory, Background Noise makes the case that sound art should be at the core of contemporary culture.

Contents:

Introduction: Auditory Relations ix

Part 1 4'33": Sound and Points of Origin 1

Chapter 1 Sociality of Sound: John Cage and Musical Concepts 7

Chapter 2 Exposing the Sound Object: Musique Concrete's Sonic Research 24

Chapter 3 Automatic Music: Group Ongaku's Performative Labors 35

Part 2 Box with the Sound of Its Own Making: From Gags to Sculptural Form 47

Chapter 4 Rhythms of Chaos: Happenings, Environments, and Fluxus 54

Chapter 5 Minimalist Treatments: La Monte Young and Robert Morris 68

Chapter 6 Conceptualizations: Michael Asher and the Subject of Space 87

Part 3 I Am Sitting in a Room: Vocal Intensities 99

Chapter 7 Performing Desire/ Performing Fear: Vito Acconci and the Power Plays of Voice 108

Chapter 8 Finding Oneself: Alvin Lucier and the Phenomenal Voice 123

Chapter 9 Word of Mouth: Christof Migone's Little Manias 133

Part 4 Public Supply: Buildings, Constructions, and Locational Listening 147

Chapter 10 Tuning Space: Max Neuhaus and Site-Specific Sound 154

Chapter 11 Other Architectures: Michael Brewster, Maryanne Amacher, and Bernhard Leitner 167

Chapter 12 Composing Intensities: Iannis Xenakis's Multimedia Architectures 183

Part 5 Soundmarks: Environments and Aural Geography 195

Chapter 13 Seeking Ursound: Hildegard Westerkamp, Steve Peters, and the Soundscape 201

Chapter 14 Language Games: Yasunao Tone and the Mechanics of Information 218

Chapter 15 Complicating Place: Bill Fontana and Networking the Soundscape 230

Part 6 Global Strings: Interpersonal and Network Space 243

Chapter 16 Interactions: Achim Wollscheid's Production of the Local 251

Chapter 17 Global Events: Atau Tanaka and Network as Instrument 267

Chapter 18 Live Streams: Apo33 and Multiplying Place 280

Conclusion: Auditive Pivot 295.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-307) and index.

ISBN:

0826418449

0826418457

OCLC:

62732631

Publisher Number:

9780826418449

9780826418456