I didn’t get a chance to chat with my classmates about the proposals so I’m doing it alone to consider which one got chosen. This I hope will also give me insight into the process of a professional sound installation proposal and the depth it takes to be successful.
Firstly, Burchell Songsmith. I found Burchell’s proposal to be very in-depth. For a proposal, I can understand why this is important. She did a great job at explaining her idea, and also the reason why she thinks her idea is good for the commission. She also displays a great level of communication for the proposal and connects the community with their sonic environment. Burchell also has created the three main locations she wishes to engage within her submission and the reasons why she thinks it’s important, with a short history lesson on each section. She weighs in the positives and negatives of each situation and what her piece can do for each area. She also in contrast prepares some backup locations if the first three are not able to receive permission from the council to use. As well as this, she explains her process. Going in-depth about how she will create the sonic works that will go into her songsmiths and the way she will create them. She also presented an accurate professional cost list which explains the cost of the entire process, as well as a very organised calendar of the commission and how it will operate. I’m very impressed.
Secondly, Berger – Bangor Searches for a Microphone. The submission from Berger was no way near as good as the first presented. It still held all the information needed to understand what the idea was and where it would be positioned. But it lacked the critical analysis to really take it further an extra level and help the reader understand why it’s important to have this in the city, why is it going to be beneficial? How does this fit the brief and what are the benefits and negatives of this proposal? It didn’t create a back up which the first one did, which I feel is important. Installations can receive problems during the creation and if a backup plan isn’t present things can go terribly wrong. It didn’t feel as dedicated and because of this, I am guessing that the first proposal won the commission.
I found Milos journal a great insight into how a sound artist will come up with ideas and reflect his thoughts onto paper. To see the development and how things can become an idea. It really shows the process. Here are some of my favourite pages.
I feel the journal I’ve been keeping follows a similar process. I usually find my ideas are an unconscious stream captured. I want to just throw ideas and thoughts to develop and see how ideas can interconnect. A strong thought process so far is my identity within myself and this gallery space. I’m curious to see how I can use this space to represent myself and my community.
I was considering my sonic landscape. How do I engage with my environment and what do I consider my sonic landscape? I also thought about identity. Spread across my work it’s the main thing. DIY is about me and my scene. My friends. I don’t do this alone. Community strives.
Page 5 & 6
My first idea is based on the pressures of social media. The need as an artist to communicate and promote your work through Instagram. The viewers who watch my stories but never engage. Social media gives you the idea of society watching you, choosing when to engage. The all-seeing eyes create pressure. Everything is shown on social media every day and it gives me anxiety. This installation would have the eyes of multiple people but not show their faces. The same way we see them on social media, a username not a person. And I would play in a multi-speaker setup the comments of users whispering and layering above the and around the all-seeing eyes. Inviting the mobile visitor to walk around the space to attempt to focus on the whispers produced through the loudspeakers.
Page 7 & 8
This second idea was based on thinking about identity and my sonic environments. I want to hide three mobile live streaming boxes around Brighton. Where I have spent a lot of time and experienced positive things. Places I would consider my defining sonic environment. I would live stream the boxes into Locusonus and play them 24hrs 7 days a week. Due to the spontaneity of this installation, it would allow the mobile visitor to want to revisit the installation to see how it evolves throughout the week. I would decorate the space of each speaker with photos and information on the location. History to my sonic landscape and identity to me and my scene or friends.
I read through the Basanta article after our morning lecture. I found the theory behind sound installations deeper than my initial previous knowledge on the subject. I wasn’t completely ignorant towards the initial depth an artist will go when creating, designing and implementing a sound installation. But more so the thoughts in designing and actualising. Taking thought behind every decision. To try to understand even the things we assume to be trivial and expand our thoughts on them to allow a deeper, meaningful decision-making process when curating our ideas.
I found the relationship between the so-called fifth dimension or the mobile listener and the installation. Alongside the artists meaning and time and space to be a deep subject in itself. It seemed to me like an organism when fully implemented successfully. Everything has thought and works like a well-oiled machine. Each aspect of the installation will be thought of and on purpose. Each creative multimedia aspect of the installation will take or not take consideration for each other but for it not to take consideration one must first think of the relationship between each aspect for you to decide you don’t want that to happen. I think it’s created more of my depth on my decision making. Whether for better or worse, perhaps through sketching and starting with my ideas I can find a middle balance point between the theory and implementation.
I believe an important part of this text is stating the importance of a sound installation. To think what a sound installation can present in its qualities that other art forms such as music cant and how to use that as a strength when creating an installation spoke volumes to me.
Instead of just two quotes, I have chosen five as these really spoke to me as what I’m intending to hopefully implement in my idea. I believe these qualities will differentiate a sound installation from other artforms and why I find these quotes important.
“the ‘conceptual dissonance’ between the initial idea and its problematic adaptation can be used as a critical lens through which new theoretical models and practical techniques are developed.”
I found this quote to be perfectly fitting, deciding on an idea and implementing it can lend to problem-solving ideas. Perhaps changing how the installation works to create the means to an end. You might have an idea and how you want the installation to be. But how the actual technical aspects might change due to a number of reasons and this can lend itself to new practical techniques.
“in other words, in order to become useful in installation contexts, traditional concert-based musical approaches to formal structures must be adapted to situations in which sound materials are dispersed spatially and temporally, and are experienced by a mobile visitor at their own pace.”
The mobile visitor is something unthought of in a normal concert context. In a usual concert context, the mobile visitor cannot change how they experience the performance. And this is what a sound installation can differ and bring new territory towards its experiences. A mobile visitor can walk around an installation and approach it from how they see fit. This is something to take into consideration when developing a sound installation as using the space and design techniques can allow you to persuade or convince the free-thinking mobile visitor to engage in how you want to.
“the three Euclidian dimensions (length, width and height) are not only modulated by the fourth, topological dimension (time), but also by the fifth ‘dimension’ of perceiver subjectivity: Your Engagement Sequence (or YES), the first-person sequential unfolding of four-dimensional experience”
Again similar to the previous quote but speaking on how all the dimensions of a sound installation work together. Thinking about not just the space-time and width or height but the engagement and the relationship between the consumer of your installation with the work. How are they going to situate themselves in this sound installation?
“placement of sound or media-emitting objects can be conceived as a compositional decision even within the supposedly neutral ‘white-cube’ setting of the gallery.”
Something I wouldn’t have seen this as critical as it is. Placement, though seeming trivial can have a considerable important effect on how the mobile visitor interacts with the installation and isn’t to be taken lightly.
“Adding additional media-producing elements while paying attention to their spatial placement and the affordances of the visitor’s movement can increase the complexity of the resulting experiential form. Spatial configurations can thus be envisioned as enabling a ‘bodily flow of an individual whose decisions as to where to be [construct] the [media] composition’”
Consider everything you add to the sound installation. And consider the relationship between each media presented alongside the mobile visitor. How do these play together?
I looked into different sound installations to give me more context on the subject. Also, what is possible. How does each sound installation use its idea and space to engage with the audience?
The first one I chose was Other Registers – The Sound and Silence of Police Violence in Rio de Janeiro.
I chose this sound installation as its made by Brazilian sound artists. I wanted to see what non-western artists are doing with sound installations.
“Visitors are invited to listen to official statistics for citizen and police deaths in the city between October 2009 (when Rio was selected to host the Olympics), and January 2016 (the start of the Olympic year), played as sound via a circle of eight loudspeakers.
Police violence is a long-standing issue in Rio, but the high numbers of killings often provoke surprisingly little public reaction. ‘Other Registers’ aims to create awareness of this issue through a physical and aesthetic experience.”
I managed to find a video showcasing the Sydney experience.
I found the idea a good reflection of Brazils hypocrisy with the past and current government. The darkroom makes the audience engage differently than when lit, it encourages the first person audience member to use their ears. The space transforms with the eight speakers forming an octophonic ring, it seems immersive. I can only assume the lasers which form a pattern communicate and allow for the audience member to know where to stand and move around the space. This idea of showing the audience member where to go and guiding them without words seems a good way of communicating.
The second sound installation was JAY-Z – Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film.
I’m not a huge JAY-Z fan but when researching hip hop in a gallery context this was the first that appeared and it surprised me. I’d never seen this before. JAY-Z after releasing his album titled Magna Carta… Holy Grail. Decided to shoot a music video inspired by Marina Abramović’s piece “The Artist Is Present”.
In this piece, Marina Abramović sits in silence in front of a public member and gives her undivided time for 6 hours throughout the day. This went viral due to her ex-husband approaching and her beginning to cry and reach out for his hand after sitting in silence and looking each other in the eyes for a few minutes. JAY-Z uses this in his own context and asked Marina permission to use her idea for his music video.
The concept of this was to take what Marina previously did but with his song Picasso Baby. He wanted to rap for six hours straight the lyrics of the song. The lyrics speak about being an artist and a modern-day Picasso amongst his peers and city. JAY-Z relates his work to art and says hip hop is a brother to the art world and is no different.
He speaks about the difference between a large concert, how the energy comes to him. And on that day he said it’s an exchange. Somewhere to drop it off. He invited people to sit down in front of him while he performs his lyrics over and over again for six hours. This exchange between audience members and performer is interesting. Some sit and admire others get up and dance. The space allows JAY-Z to be more intimate. I felt like the sound of his rap and instrumental sculpted the space. He took it from a room full of people to everyone engaging and a transfer of energies. The fact that everyone was so close to each other allowed for a different experience than a concert. I enjoyed this because it showed the importance of crowd engagement in specific contexts. The room and his proximity allowed this to work. He made himself the art. He speaks about rap being thinking out loud, the bravados the insecurities for the world to see. Giving a glimpse of who you are. As a rapper this does speak volumes to me, I find myself using my art to showcase my identity and how I engage and stamp myself on the world. This has given me ideas about how to use performance in a gallery context as a rapper. To use the skills I have and use the space to create something that isn’t physically present. The energy between crowds. The artist is the piece in the gallery. JAY-Z is the artwork, not a soundscape playing not a painting but he is the living embodied artwork.
The third installation is Max Neuhaus’ “Times Square”.
I chose this installation due to the location and how Max uses his installation to interact with his environment. Times Square is a sound installation that Max Neuhaus installed in 1977 under a vent for the new york metro system. The installation is a set of speakers playing a low hum. Similar to the end tone of a bell. This installation is unmarked and out of sight, in the centre of one of the busiest places in the world. This installation interests me due to its location and message. The use of space and interaction with an audience. The fact that the installation is unmarked poses an interesting philosophical question, wether art sometimes can be noticed if no one gives us the message that its there. Would we walk past someones work in a gallery if it wasn’t labelled? And if so what benefits can that offer a sound artist if he presents it as so. A secret work amongst everyone else’s. How would this work at gallery 46 If there was a secret sound installation?I Also enjoyed his use of space with the Times Square installation, he managed to create a non subjective listening experience amongst this busy city, for the ordinary person. The listener who decides to stay and see where the noise is coming from and engage with the installation. This has made me think about hiding the source of the sound and how this makes the first person engager experience the sound installation. How can I include this into my work, or take into consideration the importance of vision. If someone sees a speaker they act differently to if its hidden. I want to experiment with this.
The fourth sound installation is by TradeMark. For the Burning Man festival.
He was commissioned in 2007 to create the main sound installation directly underneath the burning man. In the setting of a zen garden. TradeMark responded with a week long soundtrack using the sounds of nature and us army missiles. The piece used the harmonic properties of us army missiles resonating as part of the installation. It gave a similar sound to a singing bowl. When creating the installtion TradeMark thought about what sonic properties a zen garden would have. What stood out to him was the sonic landscape of Burning Man. It’s in the middle of a dessert with fifty thousand people crammed into a small section. And the absesnse of sound in a desert, that you barely hear any animals. The only animals you hear during burning man is humans.
The soundtrack is nineteen different audio scenes controlled with Maximus P. The audio scenes are associated with each other as nature isn’t random it has a structure despite being chaotic. He coded so that the computer knows what to play after each scene. If there is rain, it can fade into a thunderstorm or into something else that makes sense. He also researched the animals normal found in the area and used those as well in the coding. And relate to the time of day. Animals are appropriate to the time of day. Frogs and cayotese at night for example and birds in the morning. The computer knows when to play the right sounds due to being synced to a clock. The computer becomes a fake soundscape that emulates a real working desert. The sound installation runs 24hrs a day for a straight week. And once these rules have been coded and implemented the computers knows which sounds to pick from and how the audio scenes blend together to create a sonic environment for the festival goers to enjoy.
I really enjoyed this sound installation. It reminds of the ideas discussed this morning with Milo and Inaki. With randomness not being a real thing amongst nature. I enjoy how this practitioner has used the computer as the brain of what to play amongst the scenes of audio. It adapts through the week and time, creating a more refreshing experience for the audience member that interacts with the sound installtion. Something ever changing and not static, that moves with time and space.
I think overall based on these four installations I have been shown different approaches. The way to use space to create a specific interaction with the audience member. Despite some of these installations not being in a white room inside I can still take some lessons from these installations. I want to create something interactive and really think about what the space offers in a gallery. I think the different between sound installtion and sound work or piece is the relationship it has with the space and listner. Sound installations allow for a different relationship that the space offers. The placement, the intent, the signposting. The design of how interactive your piece is and also how continues and ever growing it can become, for example how the Burning Man instalation was.
I’m also curious about how JAY-Z used his performance aspect, performance is something I’ve done from a very young age interacting in freestyle circles. I’ve been thinking about identity in my own sonic landscape and how I can show that within a gallery space. I’ll be doing some ideas and sketches and will keep my blog updated on my thoughts.
In this module, we are tasked to do a sound installation for submission. With the schematics and plan alongside a fifteen hundred word write up.
I have always found gallery spaces to not feel that comfortable or inclusive. There’s a sense of snobbery, perhaps just my interpretation of these places. I visited Gallery 46 last year during my first year and the event I went to which I don’t actually remember changed my mind on the subject. I had always wanted my artistic stuff in a gallery and this is something I’ve spoken about before. To have worked not normally considered to be included in a gallery always interested me even before joining this course. It was something I’d say to my friends, how cool it would be to have our work and our music in a gallery where we could perform and have our art thought off as gallery-worthy really motivated me.
I had a busy Christmas period doing my audio paper and because of this, I haven’t had enough time to think or sit on the idea of an installation. I have little else to do currently so my full focus is predominantly on this task. Although I feel unsure on whether this is something I’m extremely passionate about I do find comfort in the unknown and attempting something alien to me is always interesting.
Initial ideas related to my identity and related somehow to my other skills and passions such as music, radio shows, rap, samples. Performance, obscure non-useful hardware and doing something. My plan is useful for someone like myself. I always work from an unconscious stream of ideas which does work but I need to this time create order to allow for this to happen this. My plan is to research sound installations that excite me and give me ideas. How do I situate myself within this way of showcasing work? As well as this similar to what I did with the audio paper, I will research the benefits of what an installation allows you to do, how does it differ from music? What are the benefits and weaknesses and how can I use these to convey my idea or message through this medium.
Alongside this research and development process, I think the most important part is doing it literally. I want to be keeping a sketchbook of ideas that allow me to not be stuck but develop and actualise my ideas and through doing get an end idea.
