Today in class in our final week for this unit we firstly discussed and debated last week’s reading task, I was especially interested in Pauline Oliveros’ ‘Quantum listening’ and how other members of the class responded to it. Myself I found the idea that listening or voluntary listening is required for culture, which is an interesting theory or thinking exercise as human communication is based on vocal output thus language develops and voluntary listening is required to interpret that information and return it. I don’t however think this to be true as someone with impaired or no hearing relies on visual or other sensory communication which is something I did not pick up on this at first and I am grateful for the in-class discussion as hearing other’s ideas opens new tangents of thinking. I think Oliveros should have stated the idea differently as this is basically saying deaf people have no culture or can’t have it which is opposite from the truth.

‘I’m for a sound art’

Next, we read out together in class a text by Claes Oldenburg which was an interesting activity for both listening and communication which I enjoyed because I was able to hear other classmates reading and how they felt about a particular response by how they read it. For this week task on choosing some of the responses from Oldenburg’s text I have chosen:

• “I am for the blinking arts, lighting up the night. I am for art falling, splashing, wiggling, jumping, going on and off.”  This one to me captures kinetic art practice and motion, which I resonate with, and I find that interpreting the ideas behind art easier if it has motion involved, maybe due to my own fascination with movement or I find things like that powerful as they are multisensory.

• “I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap & still comes out on top.”  This one for me speaks about how materials should not dictate the success or creativity of an artwork which interests me because I enjoy using low quality sounds or ‘crap’ in my practice.

Each response from Oldenburg’s text is interesting to me as it shows the diversity of artistic practices, which I think is how my understanding of sound art has developed throughout this unit as I have been exposed to so many ideas and influences which is where my relationship with it sits now. I want to develop and take in more each time I discover something new and explore different themes and ways to convey and express ideas and feelings.

Article by Yan Jun

This article caught me off guard as this idea of labelling art with sound as sound art had begun to develop in my mind as I find it to be a weird label. During this unit my mind has opened to complete artistic practice rather than just sound art which I suppose now I see as sort of label of semi-restricting properties as this article explains perfectly. I’ve been juggling with this in my assignment as I think my perception of sound art has shifted to art with sound and that labelling practices should not matter.