Sound Sculpture: Intersections in Sound and Sculpture in Australian Artworks

By Ros Bandt, Fine Art Publishing: 2001, , 160 pages, hardback (with cd), $88.00. Reviewed by Bruce Johnson in the Dec 2001-Jan 2002 issue.

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The study of sound as a cultural presence has been much neglected in a scopic society in which 'seeing is believing' and 'you can't believe everything you hear'. Knowledge and power are both inextricably coupled with the faculty of vision, both as an epistemological tool and as the dominant trope of knowing: 'perspectives', 'viewpoints', 'visions', 'illumination', and of course it is embedded in the name which describes this epoch: the enlightenment. Yet sound is central to the phenomenology of the modern era. It is one of the distinguishing features of the industrial age that noise levels have risen. Boilermaker's disease was identified in the late nineteenth century, giving way to the term 'industrial deafness'; the decibel is a twentieth century invention. Sound has also increased in semiotic complexity, since what has accreted to the pre-industrial soundscape is constructed, and thus acculturated, noise.

Historically, the cultural study of sound was broadly confined to a particular structured form of it -- music. The formal study of sound-as-culture in more general terms can be dated from the work of J Murray Schafer from the 1970s, who may be regarded as the founder of soundscape studies, in turn the foundation of acoustic ecology. I think it is no coincidence that the lead in such studies has largely been taken in Nordic regions, and Ros Bandt notes and illustrates the connection between particular kinds of landscapes and the interest in the dynamic expressive possibilities of sound.

The discourses are parallel, and sound sculpture presents itself as a suitable subject for the attentions of acoustic ecologists as much as of conventional art criticism. The practices reviewed in this beautifully presented book are contemporary manifestations of a tradition as old as expressiveness itself. The convergence of the visual and the acoustic can be traced back to ancient cave paintings, which were very likely positioned with reference to the sonic characteristics of specific spaces. Thus, while Bandt situates her particular subject in a half century old project, the inclusion of Aboriginal reference points hints at that deeper historical resonance. Of course, everyday life, public and private, occupational and recreational, is constructed through the juxtaposition of sight and sound. Navigating a city street, working in a library, and the demotic pleasures of karaoke are all ways of 'experimenting' with the relationship between eye and ear. Acoustic 'doodling' is central to human activity from the moment we find our voice. What significantly distinguishes the practices documented here is that they are specifically intended to direct attention to spaces where that relationship might be reflected upon in for its own sake rather than in the service of some more primary didactic or utilitarian purpose.

Bandt disclaims any intention of comprehensiveness, seeking rather to cover a range of practitioners and spaces that exemplify the imaginative possibilities. Some of the works defamiliarise everyday sounds such as the squeaking of doors or the echoing of wells. Sometimes the process involves simple amplification, on other occasions the installationist has used recontextualisation, as in Jodi Rose's extraordinary 'musicalisation' of the cables supporting Glebe Island Bridge (Song to Dissolve the World). Recognition is also given to that sui generis Australian composer (the word is too small), Percy Grainger, through his Kangaroo Pouch Free Music Machine. There are gallery installations like Michael Graeve's Great Wall of Sound, outdoor projects such as Nigel Helyer's 1989 Din:Ding-Dang-Dong in South Korea. There are interactive installations (Irit Caspi's Awakening), and constructions made out of acoustic 'objets trouvées' such as Sam Mallet's Kaboodle, based on a stringed wok. Simon Crosbie's eerie Gaol Piece: The Architecture of Silence, is a sonic activation of the grim past of the Old Melbourne Gaol.

The narrative is deeply informed and written, so to speak, from the inside -- Bandt is herself a leading sound sculptor and her work is represented here. As a commentary on its specific topic 'sound and sculpture in Australian artworks', it is richly informed and documented, with bibliography, discography, glossary, and excellent index. It is abundantly illustrated and comes with a CD that provides 26 examples of the works described and visually illustrated in the text (perhaps because the tracks are less determinate in form than music, my CD player gives a visual display of 30; you need to follow the program closely in relation to the written narrative). It may be that a member of the sound sculpture community would find something to carp about in the selection, but coming to the subject more from the direction of a musician with a deep interest in acoustic ecology, I cannot imagine a more informative introduction to the field.

Citation

• Bruce Johnson. 'Review: Sound Sculpture: Intersections in Sound and Sculpture in Australian Artworks by Ros Bandt' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), Dec 2001-Jan 2002. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 03 September 2010].

Back Cover Blurb

• Sound sculpture is an audio-visual, time-dependent artform which crosses the boundaries of fine art and musical art, challenging traditional notions of sculpture and sound, and amalgamating them in new ways. It has always embraced elements from many disciplines - acoustic engineering, electronics, poetry and text, performance art, landscape design, architecture, technology, media and communications. There are no rules. It is a malleable, changing artform which depends on time and space for its identity. Sound sculpture requires many senses to be engaged simultaneously.
  
  Sound sculpture has been as ubiquitous as it is varied and ephemeral. What tradition there has been since the 1950s is based on exploration and experiment, and for that reason this book is deliberately descriptive rather than evaluative. Nor does it claim to be inclusive; rather, it aims to inform the reader about the nature of the genre by analysing the intersecting streams of aural and visual perception in the particular artworks.
  
  The term 'Australian sound sculpture' is interpreted to include works created either in Australia or by an Australian artist, and the works are chosen for their interesting intersections between the sounding and sculptural components. The handling of the temporal is outside most plastic arts, but in sound sculpture it is critical to its engagement and magic, and it is this conceptual ricochet between visual and aural through time that is the magic and excitement of the genre, and which provides the main structural and analytical tool for the book. Works are included which range from silent musical icons through non-intentional sounding sculptures to music machines, muscial sculptures, spatial music, installed sound, and created actual and virtual sound environments. Some works are intended to last; others are fleeting. Some are ever-changing.
  
  This book is the first major anthology of Australian sound sculpture and it is hoped that it will lay the foundation for more informed critical debate and discourse about the nature of the practice. It is an impossible task to document the works perfectly. One can only approximate the experience of them, and try to give a sense of what occurred in the original space. The inclusion of a range of materials, text, photographs, diagrams and compact disc sound examples aims to give a sense of the nature of these works by a number of Australia's most innovative and risk-taking artists.

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