Sound Art as Participatory Practice and Institutional Critique

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sound Art as Participatory Practice and Institutional Critique

AU - Keylin, Vadim

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - The paper aims to re-examine the origins of sound art from the perspective of audience participation and the role it has in the formation of the art form. I focus on the three pioneering artists: the Baschet brothers, Max Neuhaus and Hildegard Westerkamp, and their respective practices of sound sculpture, sound installation and soundwalking. I show that reimagining the role of the listener as an active participant and co-creator was an important goal for these foundational practices. However, they differ in their approach towards participation. Sound sculptures engage the listeners in collective music-making. Sound installations invite the participants to re-compose spatially distributed sonic material into a personalized temporal musical sequence. Finally, soundwalks establish a relationship of aesthetic appreciation between the active, agentic listening of the walk’s participants and the everyday sound-making practices that compose the acoustic environment. Sound artists’ attitudes towards audience engagement can thus be also regarded as a form of institutional critique aimed at established institutions of (musical) listening.

AB - The paper aims to re-examine the origins of sound art from the perspective of audience participation and the role it has in the formation of the art form. I focus on the three pioneering artists: the Baschet brothers, Max Neuhaus and Hildegard Westerkamp, and their respective practices of sound sculpture, sound installation and soundwalking. I show that reimagining the role of the listener as an active participant and co-creator was an important goal for these foundational practices. However, they differ in their approach towards participation. Sound sculptures engage the listeners in collective music-making. Sound installations invite the participants to re-compose spatially distributed sonic material into a personalized temporal musical sequence. Finally, soundwalks establish a relationship of aesthetic appreciation between the active, agentic listening of the walk’s participants and the everyday sound-making practices that compose the acoustic environment. Sound artists’ attitudes towards audience engagement can thus be also regarded as a form of institutional critique aimed at established institutions of (musical) listening.

U2 - 10.23683/2415-8852-2017-4-19-30

DO - 10.23683/2415-8852-2017-4-19-30

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2415-8852

VL - 2

SP - 19

EP - 30

JO - Practices and Interpretations

JF - Practices and Interpretations

IS - 4

ER -