Sounding Arts

Kurzbeschreibung und Leitidee

The course aims to provide a theoretical and historical perspective on the development of the emergent field of what is known as “sound art”. The question addressed is whether sound art derives from art music tradition or stems out as a derivative of the visual arts. Because of the apparent diversity of what is termed “sound art,” there are often debates about whether sound art can be historicised within the domain of either visual art or experimental music categories, or between the categories. This question of categorisation problematises the positioning of sound art in the trajectories of art history in general, and media art history in specific, including film sound and sound in new media. The course will consider these intersections and emergences in the contemporary art where sound-based artworks have taken a definitive surge in production, exhibition and dissemination with considerable attention in the last few years. In this fertile context, the course aims to trigger a timely discourse for the student of art history, music as well as film and media.

Lerninhalte

1. The students will learn to use sound creatively in music, fine arts, film and media arts. 2. The students will be introduced to the theoretical perspective of sound studies, listening and sonic ethnography – emerging fields of knowledge within the arts and humanities. 3. The course will encourage the students to consider the sensory modality of listening as a creative faculty for the everyday communication based on an epistemology of sound. 4. The course will help students to garner skills to work in film and media industries. 5. Knowledge acquired in the course will enable the students to conceptualise their creative practices in music, fine arts, sonic arts, film and media arts.

zu erreichende Kompetenzen

Media Studies, Film and Media, Media Art History, Sound Studies, Media Archeology, Film Sound, Visual Culture Studies, Sound Art, New Media, Art History.

Kim-Cohen, S. 2009. In the blink of an ear: Toward a non-cochlear sonic art. Bloomsbury. LaBelle, B. 2015. Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art. New York: Bloomsbury. Chattopadhyay, B 2013. Interview. In Cathy Lane & Angus Carlyle (eds.), In the Field: The Art of Field Recording (pp. 49 – 59). London: Uniformbooks. Demers, J. 2009. Field Recording, Sound Art and Objecthood. Organised Sound 14(1): 39–45. Cambridge University Press. Chattopadhyay, B. 2018. The Well Tempered City: participation and intervention in sound art, Leonardo Electronic Almanac 22/2, Cybernetics Revisited issue. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chattopadhyay, B. 2017. Beyond Matter: Object-disoriented Sound Art. Seismograf/DMT. Lane, Cathy and Carlyle, Angus (eds.) (2021). Sound arts now. London: Uniformbooks.