i wanted to post an entry with a link about William Basinski and the Disintegration Loops.
http://www.hauntedink.com/25/basinski-disintegration.html
Also, an interesting article about "I am sitting in a room".
http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/%7ecburns/realizations/lucier-1.html
just passing on some articles i had in my bookmarks.
Our readings are from Brandon Labelle's Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art
We will discuss the following next week:
Pages ix - xvi Introduction: Auditory Relations
Pages xvii - xviii Fade In
Pages 1 - 46 Part 1: 4'33"; Sound Points of Origins
not sure if i did this correctly, but here is my one minute sound piece.
Experiencing sound is such a different experience than most other things because there is sound everywhere and often we form habits of blocking certain sounds out. This makes focusing on certain aspects of sound that much more difficult. Without highlighting certain aspects of what someone hears, or if something is not loud and direct, we tend to focus less on what we hear and absorb. The exhibition space was so large and yet it still seemed as if the sounds presented were isolated in there respective areas. It was almost as if each area had its own unique sound and experience that related to and contributed to the aesthetic of what you where experiencing.
Sound played an important role in further connecting the viewer to the piece and expressing a deeper emotion within the work. You were never just hearing sound, but often you were looking at something and or manipulating something while hear the sounds related to that piece. Sound contributed greatly to the works by creating a more complete experience.
The weather and the sounds outside really seemed to affect and almost complimented the experience inside. Although the openness in the exhibition and the sparseness of the works as wells the use of lighting all seemed to affect an individuals experiences in regards to space, and sound.
Hey all:
I'm trying to download all the sound files from our server & I have a request: Could everyone upload a version of their file in a more accessible format like an mp3 or wav or aiff or something like that? The aup files from audacity are a struggle to open & even with audacity I'm having trouble reading them. Thanks!!
How did you experience the ambient sound within the exhibition space?
I experienced the sound in a rather drifting manner. I feel like I tend to take things in bit by bit rather than focusing intently on one particular item. I listened to the Labor Camp Orchestra "switch board," watched portions of the video installation, leaned in closer to the giant pincushion, and stood beneath the aural umbrella of "good morning and good night." There was also the ambient sound of the storm which tied in quite nicely with SAD, I thought. I think the storm helped illuminate that feeling of being trapped that SAD can bring about in a person.
What was the role of sound in the artworks presented in the exhibition.
I think the role varied. For "Good Night/Good Morning" the sound was less direct - sprinkling over the listener like a light rain - which made it, for me, harder to hear all the differences in her voice. I think this added to the feeling of melancholy and malaise and evoked, quite literally, the distance one has when suffering from SAD. The sound board of the L.C. Orchestra was completely different with it's large headphones and interactivity. In the orchestra piece, the participant has all the power & control of the piece and so to experience it is to interact with the installation.
Describe a sonic experience that most fully tuned you into the exhibition theme SAD.
I keep coming back to "Good Morning/Good Night" because I think that piece in particular evoked SAD. The distance of the sound, of the voice, the monotony of the words, the stale-ness . . . when I think of SAD I think of how un-alive one feels. You merely exist from day-to-day with an undercurrent of feeling stuck, trapped, depressed, etc.
I also have some feedback on watching the Labor Camp Orchestra piece, which has really stuck with me this past week. When we initially spoke of it outside the Weisman, I felt like I was digesting so much at once I didn't quite know where to start. Now that I've had some distance from it, my reaction to it is a mixture of positive and negative. On the negative side of things, I honestly think it was far too long of a piece. There was so much going on in each piece that after an hour & 1/2 they all kind of blended together. I think the impact would have been stronger if it had been kept shorter. In conjunction with the length, I initially dismissed my physical comfort as part of my reaction but now think that it's a valid component of my experience. I was extremely uncomfortable in those chairs after maybe 30-40 minutes into the piece and after I allowed myself to stretch & move my body into a different position, I became addicted to moving so I could find a comfortable position. The last three pieces I can barely remember because by that point I was wishing it was over so I could stretch! I hate wishing things to be over! My last complaint is that portions of it were, quite frankly, too literal for my tastes. I was disappointed when during "strange fruit" pieces of fruit were cut in half and constructed into new pieces of fruit. I was also disappointed when during one of the latter pieces the narrative "Watch/Watch Me" that the two on stage with cameras kept pulling up wrists to look at watches.
I'll stop my feedback here as this is already quite long! I did have positive experiences with the piece but the most buoyant reactions now are, sadly, negative.
The weather changed my perceptions of sound within the exhibition area since the last time I visited. Rain, wind, thunder, and hail pounding blowing and clattering down on the walls of the museum. When ever thunder erupts, I think of gods (of the Norse style) fighting on a battlefield above the clouds.
In Piotr's installation, the process of donning those big, enveloping headphones takes you away from the gallery and into his own world of re-education through sight and sound. His songs were mechanical and organic at the same time, and had a touch of improvisation to them, with the way they would start with a little, discardable melody that would somehow build into something greater. What delighted me the most was his use of voice in his songs - the lyricalness of Chinese poetry, or the foreign tones of Russian, or the cheerleader chants in his song Camp Cola.
Another piece I enjoyed was Endless Day, whose author I can't remember. It was a video projection on the wall of time-lapse footage of an entire day on the northern seas of Norway, on a day that never ends when the sun never sets. Although the video contained no sound itself, there was something serene about the envisioned sound of the bright glowing of the sun and the ambient sounds of the museum.
In listening to sound, there can be something deeply solitary and meditative about the experience. In the wintertime, things slow down...
my one minute sound is up under the title of "one minute sound." but it's just a little bit longer than one minute...
i wanted to tell a short story with this short period of sound.
This is an opportunity for you to listed to the work that was created for the 1 minute site-sound work.
Drawing from the 1 minute site-sound work that you created and the 1 minute site-sound works created by others, recontextualize any of these sounds into a new 1 minute piece of re-contextualized site-sound.
Create a new entry in this category and upload your sound file.
Save your file on the server as well.
Make a new entry in this category and Upload your 1 minute sound file
Check here for software and guidance for using SFTP (secure file transfer protocol)
Connect to artserve using willow3 and our password:
The ambient sound didn't really play much of a part in my experience. There weren't too many people there. An occassional viewer walking by, but nothing that would have an impact.
The use of sound in the art pieces I found to be practical and inventive.
Andrea Stanistav's "Flash Land" had this sweet surround sound system in a small room accompanied by video, but the sound was way soft.
Piotr Szyhalski's Labor Camp Study Room A/B was completely interactive and probably the coolest. You switch the plugs on you head phones for a different recording.
My "sonic experience" would have to be when I selected the recording of the 911 calls in Labor Camp Study Room B. Hearing the different people desperate and screaming over the phone was depressing and a bit unsettling.
Post a blog entry that responds to the following queries:
How did your experience the ambient sound within the exhibition space?
What was the role of sound in the artworks presented in the exhibition.
Describe a sonic experience that most fully tuned you into the exhibition theme SAD.
We will begin class next Wednesday with a visit to the SAD Exhibition at the Weisman Art Museum.
While visiting the exhibition, reflect on your experience of sound within the exhibition space as well as the role of sound in the artworks presented in the exhibition.
I will post a blog category for reflections. Post your reflections prior to our class on 9/27.
We will met at in W123 @ 9pm to listen to the 1 minute sound works created with found sound.
The sound folder that we placed in willow2 on the server have been moved to willow3 (Sound Art)
You can use our password to access the sound files that you created last Wednesday with greater ease,
transom.org
has a set of well documented and accessible guides to using a range of audio tools - hardware and software.
Is is a resource designed to encourage people to participate in public radio via the internet.
You can find out more about microphones, mixers, audio recorders, editing tools, and transmitting your sound works.
transom.org has an illustrated guide to the Zoom H4
transom.org has some fantastic audio resources.
Including an illustrated guide to the M-Audio recorder
Create a folder on the server to save your files.
server address:
afp://artserve.cla.umn.edu
Piotr Szyhalski will present his Labor Camp Orchestra at the Weisman Museum of Art on Thursday evening 7 - 8:30 pm.
We will meet at the Weisman at 6:00 pm, visit the SAD Exhibition and then participate in the Labor Camp Orchestra event that begins at 7:00 pm.
We will return to Regis W123 to share our 1 minute works from 9 - 10:00pm
Audacity is described as ... Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.
You can download the software
access documentation
checkout the tutorials
Prosumer and professional equipment is available via the CLA-TV Studios at Rarig
reserve audio equipment via Equipment Checkout
Syllabus: Sketch
This syllabus is a guide. It will help to give you a sense of the pace of the course, with the due dates for each of the major, student –generated, course components. Essential readings, examples of sound art and technical resources will be introduced weekly. My expectations for you are high. When possible, I will respond to student interests in an improvisational manner and shape the course accordingly. I will, periodically, add readings, technical tips and conceptual frameworks to cultivate the inquiry and creative work that I expect from all students.
The specifics of the related artistic, intellectual, and technical resources will be posted online. It will be your responsibility to check regularly to learn about upcoming events and available resources.
ARTS 3605 / ARTS 5650 Sound Art
1/16/07
Week 1 Introductions
9/6 Listening
Archive your documentation of what you imagine as the course begins.
~ IN ~
Week 2 Site and Sound
9/13 Sound explorations
Reading: http://www.ubu.com/papers/russolo.html
The Art of Noises Luigi Russolo
Gather local noise
Found Sound
Week 3 Bring 1 minute sounds to share
9/20 Acoustic Ecology/World Soundscape Project
Field recordings
Week 4 1 minute remixes
9/27 Sound scales
Sound Artist Presentations
Week 5 Site/Sound Studio time
10/4 Sonification
Sound Artist Presentations
Week 6 *Site Sound Presentations*
10/11
~ IN BETWEEN ~
Week 7 Embodied Sounds
10/18 Sonic Textures
Sound Artist Presentations
Week 8 Interactive Sound
10/25 Sound Artist Presentations
DIY - Piezos and mini-amp
Week 9 Beatrix*JAR - Guest Sound Artists
11/1 Circuit-Bending
Week 10 *Embodied Sound Project "discussions
11/8 Sound Artist Presentations
~OUT ~
Week 11 Transmission Art
11/15 Sound Artist Presentations
*Embodied Sound Presentations*
Replay ~ presenting work to date
Transmission Art
Week 12 Hoilday ~ no class
11/22
Week 13 Transmission Art continued
*Embodied Sound Presentations*
11/29 Independent Project proposals continued
Sound Artist Presentations
Discussion of readings
Week 14 Independent Project
12/6
Week 15 *Independent Project Presentations*
12/13
Sound art shapes aesthetic space and time. It is a new media genre that relates to the visual arts and music but is neither music nor visual art. We will investigate the powerful capacity of sound to shift our perception through the experience of listening and the process of producing sound art. A range of creative explorations and technologies will be introduced to engage you in an artistic process of realizing your individual and collaborative ideas with sound. You and all of the students will be asked to contribute to an evolving database of community resources and inspirations. The experience of listening, a series of sonic explorations, making an artist presentation, two sound art projects and one independent project will provide opportunities for you to develop basic fluency with the process of developing your artistic language with sound.