After the trimester break, I have now started the second trimester. I have, this week, began a document to track the development of my practical research and completed my first draft for my study plan.
Accumulation of Components
Now that my Second lot of my student loan has come in I have started to gather the components necessary for creating the acousmatic parametric speaker system.
So far I have sourced:
- A breadboard (though I may need to source another additional one)
- A RISC Microcontroller. (The ones I have seen used online were all fairly basic, so I decided to upgrade this element to the Raspberry Pi Pico as shown below, as it should be a relatively inexpensive way to enhance the overall range and quality of the speakers.)
- A power module
- Basic collection of wires
- Basic collection of resistors
- The code to modulate the audio input for the ultrasound transducers
I still need to source:
- 17 Ultrasound transducers. (These may just be the most expensive element as they are not at all common, looking around £40 - £120
- A MOSFET driver also known as an operational amplifier or a pre-amp.
- A 3.5mm headphone Jack to send the sound signal through
- I may also purchase a bluetooth adaptor for the 3.5mm headphone jack, but I will not install a bluetooth module into the circuitboard as this has fried the circuits of the device in online records of experiments with this technology.
Draft of my Study Plan:
Critical Synopsis of accomplished and inteded work:
This thesis will explore the ways that sound art challenges the white cube aesthetic. So far, I have produced an in-depth review of the components required to investigate this research question thoroughly.
I have traced the history of the white cube to find the reasons for its formulation: In response to how autocratic powers governed the production of art, the white cube was constructed to reject the intervention of all outside sources on the art experience. I have found an irony however, that this rejective attitude appealed to the same bodies that it was constructed against and where its reductive approach aimed to protect the freedom of the artist, it instead places limits on art itself.
I have then also summarized a history of sound art, explaining the reasons it is itself a contested term. I believe, however, that it represents a legitimate excuse to discuss the discourse of sound in art, associating the conventions of the white cube with the genre’s contested rejection. Further exploring this critique through the lens of ocularcentrism, discussing how the white cube promotes the disembodied faculty of the eye.
Tracing these histories, I propose how sound art embodies the three tenets of art appreciation: Time, Context and Relationality. These tenets are rejected by our current curatorial format, however their inclusivity in how we curate art would better facilitate the experience of any artwork regardless of its sensory vehicle. From this groundwork I hope to better support the claims I have made in constant discussion to an informative practice.
In terms of my practice, I plan to use parametric speakers to examine how contemporary technologies can better facilitate sound compositions in space, composing my own work to highlight the sounds that already haunt the gallery space. These types of speakers are not currently available for consumer purchase, however there is information online on how to construct a speaker that makes use of this technology from the circuit board up. I will therefore attempt to build one such device myself and experiment with its application to the art world. I have found some necessary components such as circuit diagrams and modulation code online and I have so far accumulated some of the parts necessary to start to build the device. Once I have a working prototype, I will be able to compose sounds in space. I will then experiment with means of creating a curated experience with the device to amplify the sounds that already haunt the gallery space. From these exhibitions, situated in both the white cube and public space, I will gather qualitative data on attitudes towards the white cube and both sound and visual art’s contemporary place within it.
My practice will both inform and be informed by my continued research into a critique of the white cube, through concepts such as hauntology, non-places, Granular synthesis, aesthetic objects, sound objects, the post-digital, expansive fields and Acousmaticism to formulate a detailed and wholistic review.
Succint Overview:
This thesis will explore the ways that sound art challenges the white cube aesthetic. So far, I have produced an in-depth review of the components required to investigate this research question thoroughly and I have now begun to accumulate the parts for the acousmatic speaker system I hope to build and create an informative research practice around. I will create compositions of sounds in space; amplifying the sounds which already haunt the gallery space such as footsteps, electrical equipment and closing doors. My practice will both inform and be informed by a continued research into a critique of the white cube.
Commenti