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Orphan Sounds: Locating historical recordings in contemporary media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2018

Budhaditya Chattopadhyay*
Affiliation:
Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, Leiden University, Rapenburg 38 2311 EX Leiden, The Netherlands

Abstract

This article seeks to articulate the interaction between archival sound recordings and the contemporary media, arguing that digitisation and post-digital mediation have led to the interpretation of historical sound recordings as object-disoriented sonic artefacts drifting through the contemporary media environment. Investigating past, current and ongoing sound-based artistic projects and artworks as case studies, the article substantiates the argument by addressing questions of identity, mediation and interpretation in the post-digital condition of contemporary media. These projects are examined in order to gain understanding of how the source materials are often derived from older sounds, such as the pre-electric era early sound recordings made in India on shellacs and cylinders, and how they are reused in artistic production following their re-interpretation as object-disoriented sonic artefacts.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

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