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The Icebreaker: Soundscape works as everyday sound art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2009

Owen Chapman
Owen Chapman
Affiliation:
Department of Communication Studies, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, CJ 3.230, 3rd Floor, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaH4B 1R6 E-mail: chapman.owen@gmail.com
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Abstract

The following discusses the potential of soundscape work to reveal new aspects of our everyday aural environments. Openness to the voice(s) of one’s sonic surroundings is maintained as a hallmark of soundscape works, and also a key component of sound art more generally. Different perspectives and questions are articulated, with a consistent focus on the variety of spaces engaged by both sound(scape) artists and listeners. A case study is presented – a recently initiated sound art project on the part of the author entitled The Icebreaker. The latter is a musical instrument, performance piece and interactive installation made from piezo microphones and ice. Prepared compositions, including soundscape works, are diffused at different moments when one ‘plays’ The Icebreaker. I describe this emergent work as an example of the sort of considerations and negotiations that are at the heart of soundscape/sound art composition. My aim is to demonstrate how sound artworks bring us to attend to sounds we formerly failed to notice, revealing our own reactions to these stimuli at the same time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , April 2009 , pp. 83 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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Chapman sound file

Icebreaker_improv_with_ondes_martenot_laptop_guitar_24bit

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Audio 7.3 MB

Chapman movie file

Frozen puddle

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Video 7.6 MB

Chapman movie file

Ice_Xylophone

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Video 9.3 MB