This week I presented for my formative review.
Compressed space phenomenology:
As a part of the review, I presented some of my work to Willem who was in the room with me.
As others were unable to be there in person, they could only watch on and in their non-presence, the physical distance between them and ourselves in the room became apparent in their inability to participate in the experience of the room. the microphones and their speakers would be unable to record and reproduce the same experience and so this is the metaphorical breaking of the hammer, whereby the apparent compression of space between us is revealed as illusion and through this realisation we can better understand the modems of how we interact with others digitally.
It was good however to see Willem respond positively to the work I had been doing as well as supportive and encouraging feedback from everyone once I had finished the presentation and it gave rise to ideas that I wish to explore further in my research and practice alike.
Written Feedback comments:
Consider a possible distinction in working with sound as a haunting presence/absence and the field of sound art, as sound art can be entirely commensurate with the White Cube setting and aesthetic.
I need to elaborate more clearly and distinctly in my presentation how sound combats the white cube aesthetic in my problematisation of sound art that is commensurate to the white cube setting.
Clarify why you are only researching acousmatic sound/haunting. Some work in the presentation could provide other avenues of research (the haunting images linked to history).
As I have only recently defined the areas of haunting in my research, I have only just been able to contextualise my own practical research in relation to the theoretical research. However it seems that in this contextualisation, the question is raised what about the other fields I have charted distinctions for. Perhaps this is an opportunity to explore other fields of haunting experiences in my practical research.
It would be helpful to include a brief introduction in the PPT that sets the boundaries of the project (especially for a non-specialist audience).
This needs introspection into the research question and a defining of what exactly I want to look into in this project.
Consider the (existing) sounds that already 'pollute' the White Cube environment (in a specific setting) and distract or haunt its perceived/idealised emptiness and silence.
Considering the sounds that are already in the space, I want for my next composition to include the recordings from the various noises we experience in a white cube gallery.
Make a clearer distinction between the White Cube as a concrete architectural space and an ideologically framed institution - which one are you addressing or at what level does your project engage with ('challenge') both?
The white cube is an ideologically framed institution which is embodied by its concrete architecture as an attempt to fulfil its ideas. My research is addressing and challenges both of these, particularly the former however, in my research I am thinking of including a section on what the ideal exhibtionary format for art could be, which may further critique the latter.
Consider the spectrum of listening: is this for humans only to hear? How inclusive/exclusive/different is the sound experience for diverse listeners (can deaf visitors feel the vibrations?).
The use of sound is important as it is the easiest to use to explore the ideas properly, especially with developments in technology I hope to take advantage of in my practical research. Its effect will hopefully reshape our understanding of art and its curation which will hopefully affect all art experiences. It is also not part of the work to be inclusive, and this does not mark it as exclusive as much as a Van Gogh painting is not very inclusive to the blind.
Practice and modes of haunting:
With these new fields of haunting experience uncovered, I must reflect on my own current intended practice's place within those contexts and how I might explore other areas of haunting.
Key:
Areas I have already planned to explore within my practical research
New areas of haunting I could explore with this new understanding of the fields of sound that haunts
The haunting domains in which sound reflects a disjunction of time:
Sound haunts when its effect is unpredictable – Incongruous haunting
- This mode of haunting is characterised by expectancy and suspense, where an expectant event is dramatically subverted, either postponed in time or where the resolution of a composition is never reached or supplanted by a radically different sound.
- This could be achieved by creating compositions that sporadically changes in tempo/ volume/ characteristics. the feeling of suspense could be explored by a shepherds tone, a type of audio illusion by which a tone is experienced as constantly shifting up in pitch forever. Perhaps this will be the foundation for my next composition idea.
Sound haunts when it cannot be heard – Silent haunting
- This will hopefully be explored by the parametric speaker system as the directional potential of the sounds will create not only narrow areas of sound, but areas of silence in the areas it is not pointed, thereby exploring the haunting nature of silence where sound is expected when the speaker is the point of focus.
- This area of haunting can be explored visually, where speakers are present but there is no audio. This mode of haunting is created the phenomenological experience of documentation, whereby in our inability to experience an event posteriori we become aware of the technology and institutions by which we experience these events, whether that is a photograph of an event with a description, or a video with distorted audio.
The haunting domains in which sound reflects a disjunction of space:
Sound haunts when its cause is not seen – Acousmatic haunting
- This is explored by the technology of the speaker systems I intend to use.
- The borderline infrasonic subwoofer resonates with the architecture of a space making its source indistinct from the surrounding place
- The ultrasonic parametric speaker physically casts the perceived source of a sound with a carrier wave, associating its origins with the place in which the sound collides and demodulates..
Sound haunts when it evolves – Modulated haunting
- This is explored in the compositions I have made for the speakers.
- Using granular synthesis to edit, augment, and simulate a sound as if played in a different environment.
- I do want to further explore the idea of a sound moving through simulated spaces and create a haunting feeling through this more distinctly.
The haunting domains in which sound reflects a disjunction of experience:
Sound haunts when it is meaningful – Psychogenic haunting
- This is an area that is completely dependent on a specific audience. It is the idea that sound can haunt by means of guilt and regret, and therefore must fulfil some sort of narrative implications.
- It is the area I thought of to describe Susan Phillipsz' Lowlands 2010, the sound installation work that won that year's turner prize award. Her work brought out the haunting associations of a specific place with a history of suicides.
- I have thought I could explore this with political works, such as the sounds of on going events such as the war in Ukraine, however I feel that if I do this then the meaning of the works which is to explore the ways that sounds can haunt may be lost in that political conversation.
- I have thought otherwise that it could be explored in a closed narrative with interactive elements, where the viewer is given control of a dialogue and the choices they make haunts their experience.
- I have attempted to compose within this idea of meaningful haunting with my composition around the 52 Hz whale, however I believe there must be a way to better experience this field more clearly.
- Another idea I had for exploring this type of haunting would be to use a broken record player or the scratches on a record, tracing the fine line between music (especially with regard to musique concrete) and sound installation. This aspect of haunting would have to further subvert the conventions of music in some way. I believe it may be possible to loop the record in some way, or otherwise to explore tape recording techniques, removing the aspect of time and haunting through repetition.
Sound haunts when it is reactionary – Responsive haunting
- This could be explored by some sort of a motion sensor, however the effects would have to be incredibly fast in order to produce the feeling that one is actively being watched.
- It would be a lot easier to explore voluntary reactionary sounds, but it is this involuntary nature that makes this much more difficult to explore. I think another way it could be explored is through transactional interactions with the space, like by scanning a ticket in a liminal site.
Sound haunts when its experience is subjective – Clairaudient haunting
- This is another field of recording that is made possible by the parametric speakers.
- This can be experienced when the sound volume is low enough so that just one person can hear the sound, whereas others cannot hear them. This effect is very similar to silent haunting though so I am unsure if I will include it a its own category, but instead include it as an aspect of silent haunting.
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