Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-j4x9h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-10T07:08:48.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Grasping the Intimate Immensity: Acousmatic compositional techniques in sound art as ‘something to hold on to’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2019

Peter Batchelor
Peter Batchelor*
Affiliation:
Music, Technology and Innovation – Institute for Sonic Creativity (MTI2), De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
*
Email: pbatchelor@dmu.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores the accessibility of acousmatic compositional approaches to sound and installation art. Principally of concern is the consideration of intimacy to create a means of ‘connecting’ with an audience. Installations might be said to explore ideas of intimacy in two ways which increase accessibility for the installation visitor: through cultivating installation–visitor relationships, and through encouraging visitor–visitor relationships. A variety of ways in which various acousmatic compositional techniques relating to intimacy might be brought to bear on and operate as a way of drawing a listener into a work are explored, in particular as they relate to the consideration of space and spatial relationships. These include recording techniques, types of sound materials chosen, and the creation of particular spatial environments and listening conditions. Along with a number of instances of sound art provided by way of examples, my ongoing GRIDs series of sound sculptures will provide a case study of works related to an acousmatic aesthetic where these concerns find an outlet.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 24 , Issue 3: Bringing New Music to New Audiences , December 2019 , pp. 307 - 318
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Bachelard, G. 1994. The Poetics of Space. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Basanta, A. 2015. Extending Musical Form Outwards in Space and Time: Compositional Strategies in Sound Art and Audiovisual Installations. Organised Sound 20(2): 171–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batchelor, P. 2012. Dome. www.peterbatchelor.com/dome.html (accessed 3 March 2019).Google Scholar
Batchelor, P. 2015. Acousmatic Approaches to the Construction of Image and Space in Sound Art. Organised Sound 20(2): 148–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blesser, B. and Salter, L. R. 2009. Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?: Experiencing Aural Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Climent, R. 2009. Hõ-A Sonic Expedition to Vietnam (blog entries). http://wunderbarlaboratorium.blogspot.co.uk/ (accessed 1 March 2019).Google Scholar
Corner, L. 2010. The Art of Noise: ‘Sculptor in Sound’ Susan Philipsz. The Observer, 14 November. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/nov/14/susan-philipsz-turner-prize-2010-sculptor-in-sound (accessed 19 February 2019).Google Scholar
d’Escrivan, J. 2014. Videogames as Digital Audiovisual Performance. Proceedings of the Second Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics and X Porto, 248–59. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/21931/1/xcoax2014-Escrivan.pdf (accessed 3 March 2019)Google Scholar
Emmerson, S. 2000. Music, Electronic Media and Culture. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Goldwater, H. n.d. Hot Soak. www.helenagoldwater.co.uk/hot-soak (accessed 30 February 2019).Google Scholar
Green, S. 2016. The Back of Beyond (video). https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0RdF4vPoTS0UENKUFdITTFJVWs/view (accessed 11 June 2019).Google Scholar
Hall, E. T. 1990. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Harrison, J. 2000. Imaginary Space – Spaces in the Imagination. Australasian Computer Music Conference 1999 Keynote Address. eContact!, 3.2. https://econtact.ca/3_2/ACMConference.htm (accessed 3 March 2019).Google Scholar
Henriksen, F. E. 2002. Space in Electroacoustic Music: Composition, Performance and Perception of Musical Space. Doctoral diss., City University, London.Google Scholar
Kim, S.-J. 2011. Hasla. Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer Verlag.Google Scholar
Kim, S.-J. 2018. Humming. New York: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
KQED Arts. 2015. One Collective Breath: Janet Cardiff’s ‘The Forty Part Motet’ | KQED Arts. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZXBia5kuqY (accessed 20 February 2019).Google Scholar
Kubisch, C. n.d. Electrical Walks: Electromagnetic Investigations in the City. www.christinakubisch.de/en/works/electrical_walks (accessed 1 April 2019).Google Scholar
Landy, L. 1994. The ‘Something to Hold on to Factor’ in Timbral Composition. Contemporary Music Review 10(2): 49–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, A. 2014. ‘LEXICON’ – Behind the Curtain. eContact!, 15.4. https://econtact.ca/15_4/lewis_lexicon.html (accessed 29 February 2019).Google Scholar
Minard, R. 1996. Sound Installation Art. Institut für Elektronische Musik (IEM) an der Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst.Google Scholar
Ouzounian, G. 2008. Sound Art and Spatial Practices: Situating Sound Installation Art Since 1958. Doctoral diss., UC San Diego.Google Scholar
Ouzounian, G. 2013. Recomposing the City: A Survey of Recent Sound Art in Belfast. Leonardo Music Journal 23: 47–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prager, K. J. 1997. The Psychology of Intimacy. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, M. 2003. Understanding Installation Art: From Duchamp to Holzer. Munich: Prestel.Google Scholar
Schäfer, S. and Krebs, J. 2003. Sound – Time – Space – Movement: The Space-soundInstallations of the artist-couple <sabine schäfer // joachim krebs>. Organised Sound 8(2): 213–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smalley, D. 2007. Space-Form and the Acousmatic Image. Organised Sound 12(1): 35–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobel, D. 2002. Children’s Special Places: Exploring the Role of Forts, Dens, and Bush Houses in Middle Childhood. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Stankievech, C. 2009. Headphones: Sound Without Space. http://stankievech.net/projects/aaradio/Headphones_SoundWithoutSpace.pdf (accessed 30 March 2019).Google Scholar
Stavropoulos, N. 2018. Inside the Intimate Zone: The Case of Aural Micro-Space in Multichannel Compositional Practice. Proceedings of the 15th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2018), Limassol, Cyprus,. 113–17.Google Scholar
Thomas, N. 2015. Review of BEAST FEaST 2015. www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2015/05/beast-feast-2015/ (accessed 1 March 2019).Google Scholar
Tubridy, D. 2007. Sounding Spaces Aurality in Samuel Beckett, Janet Cardiff and Bruce Nauman. Performance Research 12(1): 5–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Heide, E. n.d. Spatial Sounds (100dB at 100km/h). www.evdh.net/spatial_sounds/ (accessed 23 February 2019).Google Scholar
Walsh, M. and Enright, R. 2001. Pleasure Principles: The Art of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Border Crossings. https://bordercrossingsmag.com/article/pleasure-principals-the-art-of-janet-cardiff-and-george-bures-miller (accessed 20 January 2019).Google Scholar
Young, J. 2015. Red Sky. www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/11774 (accessed 3 March 2019).Google Scholar