SOUND by Caleb Kelly

SOUND (2011)

Edited by Caleb Kelly

Sound is a collection of writings on sound from a range of authors across a variety of disciplines, prefaced by an introduction by sound art critic Caleb Kelly. He contextualises the book by introducing sound as sensory phenomena and as an integral part of understanding embodied experience, where sound doesn’t just affect the ears but ‘invests your entire body’ (Shaviro, 1997). Kelly notes that sonic experience has always been present historically, but its forms and subsequent experiences of it have changed over time. There has been an overall shift in the sites of listening and relationship to sound, from the sacred space of church to the concert hall to the gallery, where music and sound are increasingly marketised becoming ‘aural commodities’ (Emily Ann Thompson, 2002). What is different in the contemporary context is the awareness one has of sound and of the act of listening, where one makes an active decision to listen to the world, which in turn re-frames our experiences of it. The shift or ‘sonic turn’ (after Jim Drobnik) in the arts has meant that visual primacy in artistic media has now been expanded to incorporate non-visual sensory perception including sound. A core question entailed in the written extracts is: what is sound art? According to the perspective of many authors in the book sound art is not a ‘concept’ or genre but a medium crossing disciplines and practices; and thus the use of this medium can be extremely wide, varied and contradictory.

Sound is readable for both those with knowledge of sound in art practices, as well as those without. The range of extracts includes the established canon of thinkers about sound, but also draws upon a wide enough range of writers and practitioners to give a diverse enough range of opinions. Each extract has its author’s own definitions and suggestions for what constitutes sound, noise and music, but there is an overall agreement that sound art it is less about generating sound in a certain way, but more about having a different sensibility to listening. From John Cage’s interest in the spaces of musical performance, to Murray Schafer’s use of everyday sound sourced from public spaces, this book looks at practices often considered outside the remit of either ‘art’ or ‘music’. The book provides a range of perspectives from more theoretical critical texts by Emily Ann Thompson, to more personal accounts such as Stephen Shaviro’s description of a My Bloody Valentine concert. The introduction and first three chapters are philosophical explorations into sound, from which the reader is allowed to draw their own connections and conclusions from the subsequent series of written extracts. The last two chapters are more focussed on interviews and writings from specific practitioners about their work, their influences and how they have generated certain trends; including writing on the improvisations of Christian Marclay, Dan Graham’s reflections on popular music, sound in the work of Nam June Paik and a discussion of Carsten Nicolai’s Klangfiguren. For someone new to the topic, the layout of the book may not make the subject area immediately clear, as the texts are not in a linear chronological order of development. Yet this allows for historical and theoretical cross-referencing, and mirrors the process of exploratory research into a new medium, rather than attempting to give a definitive account of it. The extracts are very short often being 1-2 pages or less meaning arguments can get cut off before they get fully developed, and at times it makes it patchy and fragmented to read. The book gives a good overview of the critical questions at hand, and serves as a collection of richly interlinked texts providing introductions for further reading.

There has been an increasing awareness and consideration of sound in everyday life, from the political discussions around noise control and regulation, to art practices looking at sound in the wider environment from radio airwaves to sound ecology. Kelly notes that there has also been a shift in the ‘perceptual regime’ or norms of art viewing in gallery spaces; this was formerly delimited to silent contemplation but now allows new audiences and practices, such as families with (noisy) children and discussing the work openly in the gallery space. There was a renewed interest in sound art in the early 2000s, with a number of sound-focussed exhibitions such as ‘Her noise’ at South London Gallery in 2005, and Volume: Bed of Sound at MOMA: New York in 2000. With such critical re-evaluation comes the potential for institutions and audiences to relate to sound in a more meaningful way, and for an engagement with the ‘new aesthetics of listening’. The White Cube is often seen as a neutral empty space for the containment and concentration on visual elements in art. These spaces are not designed for the flow of sound, and do not facilitate focussing on or optimising works with sound incorporated into them. As art works using new media become increasingly common, there is a need for new spaces to be built that can handle them and optimise their unique characteristics. The Black Cube space is a new model increasingly used for exhibitions featuring audio-visual work, as a space that is darkened for projection and acoustically dampened.

Sound is a re-evaluation of art practices that have been left ‘in silence’, where sound has often been ‘left outside of the gallery’ altogether (Harry Bertoia, 1997). Sound in art has been less likely to be discussed due to the difficulties present in writing about and documenting it; we have a limited vocabulary with which to describe sound, and thus to convey the experience of it in critical reviews and publicity. Yet sound practices continue to be a significant part of contemporary art, with Susan Philipsz being the first sound artist to win the Turner Prize in 2010, and looking back over the work of the recently deceased artist Mike Kelley (also included in the book). There is an increasing number of sound-focused organisations and spaces opening up, including Sound and Music and Soundfjord gallery in London, demonstrating its presence in the contemporary art scene. This book encourages us to re-frame what we think we know, and to address the act of listening in art, rather than the use of sound per se. Critical analysis of sound in art has often been subsumed to the discussion of other elements. Sound chooses to give priority and emphasis to sound in order to re-evaluate its important role in the arts, and in wider life.

Sound (2011) Ed. Caleb Kelly

Documents of Contemporary Art Whitechapel Gallery: London