espaceSONO
Whenever I struggle with a new term or concept, I usually turn to buddy Wikipedia (I just call him Wiki, though – we’re tight like that.) Today it’s the term “sound art” that has me stumped. Let’s see what Wiki has to say:
“Sound art is a loosely associated group of art practices that concern sound and listening as their focus.” (Sound art)
Thanks for nothing, Wiki.
No matter. I did, after all, recently attend an exhibit called espaceSONO where I got to get my sound art feet wet. Unfortunately, I think both espaceSONO and I were a little under-equipped to really make the fullest of the visit. For example, a number of its listening stations were down. It was also unfortunate that the fast-forward features on the media players were disabled. For example, there was one particular piece that was 27 minutes long. Barely audible static filled the first two minutes and that’s as far as my patience would take me. Perhaps this was the coolest piece of sound art ever created by minute fifteen, but I’ll never know but I couldn’t wait the fifteen minutes to get there.
Also, I have virtually no base knowledge in anything sound art (which probably became obvious when I mentioned that I actually wiki-ed the thing.) However, while I didn’t know what I was listening to most of the time, I did find a number of pieces oddly intriguing (was that NWA?).
So who knows – maybe this was the launching pad for a future career in sound art. Or better yet – maybe it was the motivation I needed to successfully push for NWA’s second reunion.
“Sound art – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” 18 Sep. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_art>
Just a correction: the features of fast-forwarding weren’t disabled. Rather, it’s a limitation of the DVD menu system. The track plays in the background of the loaded menu, and thus isn’t accessible by the DVD controls. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a way around this technological limitation. In any case, I am curious why you assume that sound-art is like consumer music, i.e., you curiously assume the right to fast-forward through it. When you experience a film in a film theater, or video-art in the Gallery, you cannot fast-forward through either experience. Both film and sound are works of duration, like a concert, and if a work is beyond your patience, perhaps this says more about your expectations of art as an easily consumable object. best, tobias c. van Veen (curator)