Sound art Totally Explained

Everything about Sound Art totally explained

Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There are often distinct relationships forged between the visual and aural domains of art and perception by sound artists.
   Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art is interdisciplinary in nature, or takes on hybrid forms. Sound art often engages with the subjects of acoustics, psychoacoustics, electronics, audio media and technology (both analog and digital), found or environmental sound, explorations of the human body, sculpture, film or video and an ever-expanding set of subjects that are part of the current discourse of contemporary art.
   From the Western art historical tradition early examples include Luigi Russolo's Intonarumori or noise intoners, and subsequent experiments by Dadaists, Surrealists, the Situationist International, and in Fluxus happenings. Because of the diversity of sound art, there's often debate about whether sound art falls inside and/or outside of both the visual art and experimental music categories.
   Other artistic lineages from which sound art emerges are conceptual art, minimalism, site-specific art, sound poetry, spoken word, avant garde poetry, and experimental theatre. Early practitioners include Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Hugo Ball and Henri-Martin Barzun.

Origin of the Term in the United States

The earliest documented use of the term in the U.S. is from a catalogue for a show called "Sound/Art" at The Sculpture Center in New York City, curated by William Hellerman in 1983. The show was sponsored by "The SoundArt Foundation," which Hellerman founded in 1982. The artists featured in the show were as follows: Vito Acconci, Connie Beckley, Bill and Mary Buchen

, Nicolas Collins, Sari Dienes & Pauline Oliveros, Richard Dunlap, Terry Fox (artist), William Hellermann, Jim Hobart, Richard Lerman

, Les Levine, Joe Lewis, Tom Marioni, Jim Pomeroy, Alan Scarritt, Carolee Schneeman, Bonnie Sherk, Keith Sonnier, Norman Tuck, Hannah Wilke, Yom Gagatzi. The following is an excerpt from the catalogue essay by art historian Don Goddard: "It may be that sound art adheres to curator Hellermann's perception that "hearing is another form of seeing,' that sound has meaning only when its connection with an image is understood... The conjunction of sound and image insists on the engagement of the viewer, forcing participation in real space and concrete, responsive thought rather than illusionary space and thought."

Controversy

A debate among artists and theorists concerns the definition and history of sound art, and gives rise to other contentious issues. Here is a partial list of some of the current arguments:

Is "sound installation" the only true form of sound art? (This relates to the definition of German "Klangkunst.")
Which genres fit into the category of sound art?
Which artists qualify as sound artists?
Is music a subcategory of sound art?
Is sound art a subcategory of music?
Where should sound art be taught and how?
Is sound art exclusively an electronic medium, or can it also exist without the loudspeaker (for example, acoustic sound, thought, physical movement)?
If sound art is exclusively an electronic medium then is it synonymous with electronic music?
Was John Cage's 4'33" sound art? (This relates to statements by Cage that refer to his work as music.)

Sound Artists

Sound art organizations and festivals

Sonic Arts Network

Opsound

NOMAD's "Project_ctrl_alt_del" festivalFurther Information

Get more info on 'Sound Art'.

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