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.

Improv Session:

A couple weeks ago me and Anna decided to set up a whole class studio session to socialise and share ideas between everyone in the class, unfortunately the attendance was low on the day that we had planned it but still went ahead with a few of us there.

I had also been reading at the time a book on Brian Eno and had been fascinated by this idea of becoming part of the process which I interpret as sort of creating the environment or climate that sound is to be made and then sort of letting it loose (an over thought jam session really). But I also think that the process of creating sounds is enjoyable itself and not focussing much on the final output. I had also watched a piece by Angus Carlyle at café Oto in which multiple microphones were set out and used to capture sounds of multiple objects.

Me and Anna gathered some instruments and laid out microphones in a circle pattern and a mixer at the 12 o’clock position with the idea being that after each little jam everyone rotated around sections, which meant everyone used a different instrument and got to compose (bring in and out different microphones) on the mixer. This resulted in a quiet lengthy compilation of harp, guitar, ukulele, microphone feedback, odd percussion and even a hurdy gurdy with all of us non-sensibly going at it on each section. Here is the result:

I really enjoyed this improv session as it was a great for each of me, Simon, Fran, Anna and Declan to share ideas and socialise, I look forward and hope to do more with all the group.

Assignment Progress:

The 500-word section of this assignment has been challenging as the question ‘what does sound art mean to you’ deserves more word count or I just find it difficult to shorten my answers. It has also been challenging to decide what exactly I would like to include and where I have been influenced, I have chosen my first quote from Cathy Lane’s ‘Sound Arts Now’ which is featured in the course literature and shows the idea of diversity in sound arts which is something I want to include into my text, I also might include something about how there seems to be a lot of restriction or labelling in art which is something I disagree with. For the section on practices or themes I’m keen to explore I think I want to write about my interest in being in the process as I really enjoyed the improvisation session.

Maryia Kamarova’s guest lecture unfortunately cut short due to a perfectly timed fire alarm was certainly an eye opener for me in terms of her artistic practice. Coming from a scenography background then moving towards incorporating sound as a medium within this practice, using the idea of repurposing electronic devices and common materials then crafting them into site specific installations and performances.

A Look into Scenography:

Maryia is part of Pyl Collective which extend and push the boundaries of scenography, they released their manifesto on scenography without borders in 2021 which luckily, I have managed to get my hands on an English translation. I had never heard of the term scenography before Maryia’s lecture thus it’s been intriguing to research into it, I specifically like the idea of scenographic thinking, analysing space and materials as a process to discover how to fit them together to bring across an idea (Bleeker, M. et al. 2019). I also am intrigued by the ability of scenography to bring out emotions along with cultural and political ideas using found materials, I’m interested in the process of selecting and designing new objects from old and re-using technology to create environments that achieve this (Von Rosen, 2021). Pyl’s scenography manifesto uses strong key words to section their main attributes, with my favourite being ‘sensitive scenography’ which entails exploration of technological organisms and focuses on non-human interactions between these (Liška, Jakub and Pyl 2021).

Looking into Maryia’s Practice:

The piece introduced to us within the guest lecture was 555 bugs which is a site-specific live performance of self-built electro-acoustic instruments that sonically interact with each other like observing small creatures carry out their lives. Maryia wanted to research into alternate sound sources and the ability to use these in a performance environment, these objects are created with simple electronic components and low-voltage circuitry (555 bugs, 2019). Her performance Hulko with artist Kunrad is absolutely stunning, and a wonderful way of using primitive objects like foraged stones and wood to create sound and bring about a natural and ecological sense, unfortunately the website ‘vimeo’ where most of maryia’s work is, requires me to submit an identification document to access anything so I haven’t had the chance to explore all of her work.

My Study:

Maryia’s lecture was inspiring for me as this kinetic/objects under motion practice is where I would like my creative practice to be as I enjoy the fascination and feeling of non-human autonomous sound producing objects. I decided with limited tools and materials to have a go at creating some sound objects.

I decided to sketch a few objects with the first being a contact box, with a playable spring attached. This ended up looking and sounding like:

Secondly I wanted to use actual electrical circuitry (although very basic) it had to have a moving element so it could produce sound by itself. This motor and guitar pickup ended up looking and sounding like:

And lastly I wanted to try and interact objects like in Maryia’s work ‘Spojené zvukem’ (2024). I decided to attach a stretched spring to a motor and use it to impact my contact box to create a semi-random noise:

Bibliography:

• 555 bugs (2019) Overtoon. Available at: https://www.overtoon.org/en/production/2020/555bugs-1/ (Accessed: December 4, 2025).
• Bleeker, M. et al. (2019) Thinking Through Theatre and Performance. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 100–106. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=59iEDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA100&dq=what+is+scenography+journal+article&ots=LwCe2F9k6R&sig=2qzcBeGxFLp1po3HkXt4By-BjAs#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20scenography%20journal%20article&f=false (Accessed: December 4, 2025).
• Liška, Jakub and Pyl (2021) “Manifest: Scénografie bez hranic (Manisfesto to Scenography without Borders),” Manifest: Scénografie bez hranic (Manisfesto to Scenography without Borders). Available at: https://jasuteren.cz/media/pages/cedit/3083814219-1762959758/cedit7.pdf (Accessed: December 4, 2025).

• von Rosen, A. (2021) “Why Scenography and Art History?,” Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History, 90(2), pp. 65–71. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00233609.2021.1923566.

Week 9’s seminar Introduced multiple frameworks of listening, this included the difference between hearing and listening which to me is only separated by involuntary and voluntary exposure to sounds. Adding to this point, we discussed harmful and exploitative listening which should not be called ‘listening’ but ‘hearing’ as to me something that is harmful or exploitative is not usually voluntary for the identity its subjected to. To me an exploitative sound can be anything that is heard un-consensually like the bus outside my window that just relieved the pressure within its air brakes or sounds purposely designed to be heard unwillingly like long range acoustic devices. This brings me to our discussion of harmful listening or sounds that cause physical or psychological harm to living things. This can be sounds created to intentionally harm like interrogation techniques or unintentional biproducts like loud motorways that directly effect local residents or confuse or distract local wildlife. We also dove into soundscape composition and acoustic ecology especially focusing on Westerkamp and some of her works,  I enjoyed ‘Kits Beach Soundwalk’ as to me it explored the idea of the  acoustic ecological impact of suburban sounds on the natural environment, Declan from class stated that he thought filtering away the city sounds distracts and restricts the accessibility of the piece which I don’t think was Westerkamp’s intentions. I think Westerkamp intended to explore and show how many sounds and details are blurred or unheard by the city sounds and by filtering the distraction away, it achieves this.

The task this week was to locate or pick a field recorder from a website that displays the location of where that sound or soundscape was recorded.

I chose this field recording as it’s an area on the South Coast that I frequently visit and have many memories of. Recorded in stereo with a cardioid pair as stated by the uploader these recording details a rather vocal harmonious ensemble of local birdsong contradicted by the distant sound of gunfire from the near-by Lulworth Tank Ranges. It depicts an odd mix of human and non-human sounds, the gunfire so common its not hushing the birds which tells me it’s almost relentless. I can not imagine an idea of this environment as I have been there many times but from a listening perspective, I would imagine deep quiet countryside broken by a warzone from the gunfire. As I know where this is I know the impact and disturbance this has on the local area, the harmful and very exploitative gunfire ruins the peace and beauty of its location.

Finally, after reading this week’s literature ‘Quantum listening’ by Pauline Oliveros I discovered the idea that all culture and expanded ideas are developed through voluntary listening. Also discovering the idea of focal (detailed) listening and global (whole field) listening which brings me to the main idea of this text being quantum listening: the idea of listening to multiple environments at once, like how two quantumly entangled atoms allow each one to portray the others environment. This in listening allows perception and focus to be concentrated into different places without actively ignoring the other.  

Unfortunately, I was unwell during week 9’s session and didn’t make it to the seminar, I did however follow along using the slides available from Moodle which allowed me to formulate a plan for the eventual assignment hand in. This plan includes a written checklist and analysis of the learning outcomes as well as some ideas for my 500-word essay shown here:

For week 9’s Research task I firstly self-discussed what the term ‘Sound Design’ means using in class resources to aid my ideas. Using this week’s Moodle slides (18-20) I came to realise that sound design or ‘a’ sound designer has no real fixed meaning as it broadly covers a range of practices from compositional work to creating unique and new sounds. The definition I resonate with the most is a quote from: Polis, M. and Rea, P.W. (2023) A filmmaker’s guide to sound design. New York, NY: Routledge. P163, and I interpret it as sound design is used to work out ‘what’ sounds need to be made and ‘how’ to make those sounds.

To complete the Research task, I found this short clip from film or TV as I feel it has lots of sound information to analyse as there is a wide range of action and environments:

Saving Private Ryan Omaha Beach Scene [4K HDR]

I think the primary focus of this opening scene is to portray the brutality of war as accurately as possible and with that glue together what you see visually with what would be heard, there is no music during this clip as this would be audibly visible and deconstruct the continuity of what is being show. During the clip you hear a considerable amount of foley work depicting the movements of each soldier which signifies emotion and the scale of what is portrayed, this idea of scale is also present in the use of only bullet flybys rather than actual gunshots, these also appear around the stereo field which signify chaos. My favourite part of this scenes sound design is when Tom Hanks experiences a large explosion, which is portrayed audibly as a sort of muted low-cut version of the events that are happening around. This part also includes some of the worst / extreme / emotional visual scenes and with the muted effect allows the viewers to concentrate and experience this using a different sound environment.

Reflecting on the reading task from this week:

This article by Westerkamp explores the connection between Acoustic ecology and soundscape composition. I noticed one point that stood out to me; that one of Westerkamp’s colleagues had tried to define soundscape composition as a sub genre of Musique Concrete which is something of a theme I notice quite a bit whilst reading this unit’s literature. Westerkamp sums it up by effectively saying that pushing something into a definition shelters it from other issues that created the need for the practice in the first place, it’s the idea of restriction that I see all the time, the idea that something should not be defined by other people’s ideas / what they think of it.

Terry Riley’s In ‘C’

Terry Riley, a small town born American engaged in musical academia from a young age, learning classical violin as his first instrument later moving on to mentored piano and compositional studies (Carl, 2009). In 1964, Riley released his composition ‘In C’, a radically different score that kickstarted the minimalist movement within the world of experimental music.

In C at its core is a score of 53 individual sections, inspired by the process of looping tape, with each pattern having its own unique melodic form that can be performed by any number of instruments, usually up to 35 but can be as little as a quartet. When playing this piece each musician has free reign over how many times they repeat each section, they can also choose when they would like to move onto the next one as long as they stay within 2-3 sections ahead or behind the other instruments (Schenbeck, 2007). They can also cease playing whenever they would like, the same rule applies for joining back in, usually one instrument is instructed to play a simple 8^th note metronome rhythm to ensure everyone is within time as shown in Riley’s original recording for this piece. The uniqueness of this is that no two performances will be alike therefore each 15 minutes to an hour and a half rendition will be its own composition that will not be heard again and removes any solo bravado or pressure on one instrument allowing each musician to relate to each other and co-create when performing (Bindeman, 2017) and (Berg, 2023).

The tonal qualities of this piece are of course centred around the C major scale, which is where its idea of minimalism stems from, as it’s based on a plethora of interchangeable loops it creates a psychedelic quality with Riley’s aim to introduce a trance like state for listeners as he was experimenting with different drugs at the time. Contextually this piece came about due to Riley’s interest in tape looping and repetition-based music like non-western sounds that were around at the time, specifically jazz and classical Indian music which is shown in this piece as a freeing Improvisational feel (Huizenga, 2024). Riley’s in C can also be seen as a political statement that encourages non-western musical practice and the breaking of western music limitations and boundaries which in result inspires and shows the audience that music does not need to conform to any rules and that experimental music is just music that doesn’t conform to someone else’s idea of classical music.

References:

• Bindeman, S.L. (2017) “Music and Silence,” in Silence in Philosophy, Literature, and Art. Brill, pp. 27–34. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004352582_005 (Accessed: November 23, 2025).
• Carl, R. (2009) Terry Riley’s In C. Oxford University Press, pp. 1–16.
• Huizenga, T. (2024) “‘In C’ Forever: The eternal evolution of Terry Riley’s minimalist masterpiece,” CRB, 7 November. Available at: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/2024-11-03/in-c-forever-the-eternal-evolution-of-terry-rileys-minimalist-masterpiece (Accessed: November 23, 2025).
• Schenbeck, L. (2007) “Terry Riley: In C (1964),” The Choral Journal; Oklahoma City, 48(3), p. 75.
• Berg , M.C. (2023) Riley Completes In C, EBSCO. Available at: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/music/riley-completes-c (Accessed: November 23, 2025).

Offsite visit:

During week seven we took a field trip to explore the artwork ’LINKED’ by Graeme Miller which included several low powered radio transmitted audio works following a long stretch of motorway in northeast London. This motorway runs straight through residential areas and caused the relocation and demolition of many houses and residents including the artist himself; this installation also hits home for me as I grew up next door to this motorway. Each radio transmitter contains a short piece composed by Graeme featuring interviews of residents and details their experiences living through the construction of that motorway. During our visit we decided to get the tube one stop up from Leytonstone’s underground station getting out at Wanstead which is where the installation starts (and where I used to live). Prior we were given headphones and a small radio receiver which burst to life as we followed the road and located the first transmitter.

The audio picked up by our receiver was of a local resident discussing her feelings of entrapment as the construction took place and quilted her view of the neighbourhood with scaffolding, fences and the non-stop sounds of heavy machinery. This transmitter was the one I resonated with the most as I can remember vividly the loud sounds of the motorway itself and can imagine what it would have been like with heavy construction rather than just cars. This first composition really made you feel like you were within the space described with the motorway being so close and almost drowning out the sound of the transmitter itself, not to mention it being outside a residential building with people who must deal with the sound all day every day. After this we followed the motorway towards Leytonstone discovering each composition as they became audible within our headphones; it became almost instantly apparent how much of an impact this road had on the local area completely separating the towns into two sides.

My thoughts:

I think the beauty of this work is that you as the viewer become the composer in a way that you must locate and find each transmitter which firstly allows you to choose how long you listen to each one and also there is a greater incentive to take your time and not miss any, unlike if this piece was within a gallery to which it would be almost forced upon you. This piece also instantly connects you with each space, as I listened to the compositions it put me right into the interview rooms allowing me to look around and feel the experiences detailed, again, if this piece was within a gallery, it would have no such effect. I think the fact that this piece allows you to be there and see why and how people have been affected rather than just photos makes you connect and identify the political and social problems of it; also, the audio compositions are not available online or anywhere else which means you have to be there physically to experience it.

Reading task and looking into experimental music outside of the typical canon:

The article for this week’s reading task ‘Towards a definition of Experimental Music’ by Michael Nyman details heavily on John Cage’s 4’33 piece which is a composition designed for the performers to set down their instruments for 4 minutes and 33 seconds allowing only the environmental sound of the audience and space to be heard. The article details that experimental music is there to break free from western formation, allowing the artist to express with out restraint. The task for after this reading was to find a piece of experimental music that is outside the usual canon, from my interpretation of the meaning of outside the usual canon I have chosen Kiren Hebden’s track ‘Thirtysixtwentyfive’ which was his first release under his Four Tet name. To me, the out of the canon experience this song has been that it’s almost an entire album released as one singular track that explores tension and playing with experimental sonic ideas also bringing in and out parts throughout. I think it’s a fascinating idea as Kieran had the time to explore a story as within a typical album but keep his original ideas close as to bring them in whenever he felt like it almost as if performing live.

During the week six seminar we discussed sonic materialism of which included debating the meaning of noise and silence. I found discussing that sound is aways in more than one place particularly interesting as the meaning of it encapsulates the physical aspects of a sound wave and its tendency to escape away from the space it was meant to be heard within. We also discussed using sound as the artistic material, like Christina Kubisch’s ‘Electrical Walks’ which I find a profoundly fascinating way to demonstrate using sound as a material to show the absolute chaos of suburban environments due to technological, industrial and electrical increases. Also, the fact that these electromagnetic emissions are not directly sound waves but are a completely different phenomenon gives us an insight into inaudible noise pollution.

Reference Task:

Quote – ‘In the process, Leneghan questions standard bio-medical and bio-psychological studies of ecstasy, arguing that the standard methodology is overly mechanistic and/or materialistic, and ignores the lived experience of ecstasy-altered consciousness’ (Schnee, 2004, p. 70)

Paraphrase – Medical and psychological studies are an inferior way to study the effects of ecstasy as strict scientific measurements or ways of gathering data do not include the subjects own personal experiences (Schnee 70)

Bibliographical entry – Schnee, D. (2004) “The Varieties of Ecstasy Experience (Sean Leneghan),” Dancecult, 6(2), pp. 70–72. Available at: https://doi.org/10.12801/1947-5403.2014.06.02.06.

Week four consisted of an offsite visit to Jem Finer’s Longplayer exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London.

This exhibition is situated in a rather small unused lighthouse with large, stoned walls. Upon entering the large wooden ground floor door, you are instantly met with a hushed sound from above. After scaling the rather hobbled old lighthouse stairs you enter a mezzanine that opens to a large loft like room that is directly above the neighbouring attached warehouse.

This is where the physical and digital contents of Finer’s piece is situated as shown in the photo above. The sculpture consists of rounded platforms containing six shelf like layers holding a plethora of varying sizes of brass singing bowls, these signing bowls are static and not contributing sonically to this piece which is why there are many small speakers hanging directly from wooden joists above. The third floor is situated as a listening area where the light from the lighthouse would have been and is now hollowed out containing yet more speakers, this itself creates a different sonic environment with a slight metallic reverb.

The sound you hear is a computer-generated sequence of singing bowl compositions composed by Jem Finer that slowly evolve and subtract as you move through the building. It is generated using a program that plays six compositions simultaneously with the trick being that they are played out of time: just like having six vinyl turntables playing the same record but starting them each at different times (Steele 7). This is worked out in the computer program as such that the composition does not repeat itself for one-thousand years.

My thoughts:

Jem Finer’s Longplayer is an excellent interpretation of time and a sense of place; especially as it is not only available in person at many locations globally but also as it is livestreamed continuously, this makes it ultimately available for everyone to appreciate and connect with wherever they are. I was surprised about this as I expected it to be a physical, kinetic artwork at first but to me the thought that it exists within the cloud reinforces its sense of place as that it is not confined to some specific location meaning its idea can continue to exist wherever. The most unique factor I find about this piece is its millennium spanning duration especially as it started and witnessed 1999s move into the year 2000 and it won’t end until 2099. I interpret this length of time as putting a perspective of the true scale of time and how much can and will change during the length of the piece (Christenhusz 148). The fact that this idea of time is not confined to a visual context or a piece of art within a gallery creates much more excitement and evokes more thought especially as it won’t be seen in years to come as a historical piece but as one that is still ongoing and ever changing. This ties in with Steven Connors idea that static visual art can give off a ‘fatiguing and inhuman’ feeling whereas sound especially in this ever-changing example of Longplayer has the power to evoke more than just visual senses (Connor 48)

Bibliography:

Christenhusz, J. (2021) “Soundings of Ecological Time in Contemporary Music and Sound Art,” APRIA Journal, 3(2), p. 148. Available at: https://doi.org/10.37198/apria.03.02.a16.

Connor, S. (2003) Ears Have Walls. Available at: https://www.stevenconnor.com/earshavewalls/ (Accessed: October 26, 2025).

Steele, S. (2024) The music Of Deep Time, Research Gate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sean-Steele-4/publication/384110733_The_Music_of_Deep_Time/links/66eb144f97a75a4b4834dbc2/The-Music-of-Deep-Time.pdf (Accessed: October 26, 2025).

During Easter 1916, Marcel Duchamp presents the art world with a fascinatingly simple creation titled ‘With Hidden Noise (A Bruit Secret)’. This piece consists of a small brass flower press like structure with a ball of twine in between the two plates (Figure One).

The rather unique secret of this piece reveals itself when shaken, a hidden rattle, an unidentifiable object within placed there by his friend. The genius is that Duchamp never knew what was inside, only inviting something to be placed in there to create a hidden noise. I think down to historical context this piece is diversly minimal yet complexing as it gives off a mix between early modernity into futurism and playing with the idea of breaking from more classical artistic boundaries. The secret hidden noise is an idea that frustrates the viewer and the artist himself, it also brings imagination to the plate as it’s only possible to guess what the object inside is when shaking it. There is only one objectionable way to find out what is inside, but that destroys the piece; adding to this, one cannot possibly try to work out what the object is which I find leaves the viewer feeling incomplete in their observations of the piece which is a charming aspect in itself. The idea of incompleteness or my interpretation in this case is that in 1916 the majority of art observers were mainly financially fortunate, expecting to snoop there way through galleries and uncover all that is there but this piece is different as it hides and deceives, I find the feeling relatable to John cage’s 4’33.

For myself Duchamp’s piece interests me because of how simple and playful it is, I like that it so experimentally different using uncomplex ideas, which to me shows that the boundaries to art are limitless.  I also find it interesting that it is a physical experience for the viewer down to the fact that one must pick it up to experience it completely which ties in my enjoyment of kinetic tactile sound art.

Bibliography Of Consulted Material:

• Fijalkowski, K. (2020) “Secret Noise: Marcel Duchamp and the (Un)sound Object,” Journal of Sonic Studies [Preprint], (20). Available at: https://doi.org/10.22501/jss.978680.
• Lark Wool (2012) Marcel Duchamp – With Hidden Noise, youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-z5W3W6Lro (Accessed: October 16, 2025).