For me, the term sound art supports a broad and diverse range of sonic exploration, which of course uses sound as the dominant way of expressing ideas. To me sound arts includes such an endlessly wide field from visual arts and academical research, it can also be vastly experimental and emotional socially charged works like Cathy Lanes ‘Am I Here?’. This piece is one of the first sound art performances that I had the chance to experience which included a wonderful spoken word experience backed with field recordings that played with the idea of conscious time and space, tying it with reality and memories. This for me encompasses the idea of sound arts and the use of audio to present an emotional idea. 

My initial interest into the sonic world started of course with a fascination for all kinds of music in general, especially extreme and complex electronic music. I think my first real introduction to the term Sound Arts was from my father talking about an exhibition he attended at the Hayward Gallery which included works by Pan sonic, Brian Eno and other experimental musicians. Through photos of that event, I discovered my interest in physical, kinetic and mechanical ways of producing sound which I find extremely powerful due to their audio and visual room filling effect. I also have a deep passion for birdsong, which for me stemmed from years of living in the countryside, I’ve always found birdsong to be fascinatingly complex and sonically interesting especially from a communication point of view. I think birdsong for me is an area that excites me to explore and research along with many other artistic sound ideas which for me is why I chose to study on this course.