This week I continued to look for opportunities for what to do next year and began reading Steve Goodman's book on Sonic Warfare.
Career development:
LO04 is worded as to make informed decisions about career development, and as a lot of the future career options for PhD courses I intend to apply for have their application deadlines in January, I plan on ideally finding work in the field in the months between September and January, and then also from January to the September that the course will start.
This week I have applied and been accepted onto a school teacher agency which helps graduates to get experience working in schools as they study to get teaching qualifications, and recruits them for full time jobs as teachers. I have had a few interviews as a part of this process and if I could find a job, i may likely move to London next year to work as a teacher so I gain some experience working in education. I have opted, out of the opportunities available to apply for roles in secondary schools as they are more likely to fund teacher training and as it would be closer than working with younger children, even if that role was as an art teacher.
I have also continued conversations about applying for the Graduate in Residence position and I am waiting for the applications to begin currently.
Sonic warfare:
“A process set up anywhere reverberates everywhere.”
“Concepts must be experienced. They are lived.”
Introduction –
Starts with a descriptive piece of creative writing about the haunting nature of dream, silence and fear.
Sound bombs - In 2005 newspapers reported that the Israeli air force was using sonic booms as ‘sound bombs’ under the cover of night on the Gaza Strip. (A sonic boom is the high-volume, deep-frequency effect of low-flying jets traveling faster than the speed of sound). The victims of sonic booms report likeness to the wall of pressure generated by a massive explosion, as well as broken windows, ear pain, anxiety attacks, nosebleeds, sleeplessness, hypertension. The government still ruled that these sound bombs were preferable to real ones.
Objective of this sonic warfare - The aim of such attacks seems to be fear and intimidation, similar to ‘anticipative’ strikes in Iraq or the screeching of diving bombers during the blitzkriegs of world war two. This intimidation would weaken the morale of a civilian population by creating a climate of threatened fear.
Virtual fear – Goodman writes that this fear that is induced ‘purely’ by sound effects is virtual fear. – The threat becomes autonomous from the need to back it up. And yet the sonically induced fear is no less real.
Psychogenic(s) and consequence of sound – In the example of the sonic boom, the sound has a multi-dimensional affect. It has the psychogenic effect of inducing and dread, but also it has a physical effect – vibrations and broken windows etc.
The argument – the argument is based on the contention that, to date, most theoretical discussions of the resonances of sound and music cultures, with relations of power, in their amnesia of vibration, have a missing dimension.
The missing dimension – Goodman identifies this missing dimension as the “politics of frequency.” He attempts to construct a nonrepresentational ontology of vibrational force. A (dis)-continuum of vibrational force is constructed that traverses police, and military research into acoustic means of crowd control, the corporate deployment of sonic branding, through to the intense sonic encounters of art and aural culture. Ultimately sonic warfare is concerned with the production, transmission and mutation of affective tonality.
Reflections:
Psychogenic(s) of fear – fear as an emotional response/ effect of sound reflects a relational aspect of sounds and especially haunting has a fearful aspect to it. The fear of haunting comes out of a certain dread. “The same dread of an unwanted, possible future is activated, perhaps all the more powerful for its spectral presence.” – sound contributes to an immersive atmosphere or ambience of fear and dread. – Goodman describes this relational dimension as its affective tone – as the way in which a sound can modulate mood.
Sound as acousmatic fear - There is a certain Acousmaticism in this specifically sonic warfare, that is not identified here by Goodman. The threats such as bombs and bullets each create very loud sounds, however these are not specifically sonic attacks. It is only when sound is specifically isolated from its causal factor that the haunting nature of that sound emerges, and the effects of the sonic element can be understood.
Because fear is a natural consequence of haunting it would be fruitful to examine why exactly this fear is important for the research project, and essential to an investigation of the white cube.
My reflective understanding is:
- Fear is the feeling of discomfort caused when anticipating danger.
- Therefore, ideas which threaten to challenge to institutionally accepted and cultural norms can enter a dialogue with that institution which can elicit fear of those who have been conditioned to subconsciously enforce the ideologies of the space.
- Hauntology is inherently revolutionary.
To Do:
During my research i came across this analysis of the film "Berberian Sound Studio", which is here quoted as being a hauntological film: https://talkfilmsociety.com/articles/a-study-of-hauntology-in-berberian-sound-studio
I think I should watch and reflect on this movie, as I have done for other movies in this project, such as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining which helped me refine the sounds of my sonic practice.
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