Week 15
Reading
The reading this week was over Robert Worby An Introduction To Sound Art. The article informed us on how sound really isn’t anything at all but a “complicated process of just particles, objects, air and liquids moving.” They also mention that nobody can ever touch or feel sound because it’s not a thing it’s just a memory. I never really thought about how people never really talk about the sound they just talk about the instrument that makes the sound. Every instrument makes a different sound and someone we as people only understand that sound when it’s associated with that instrument. It makes a point about how hearing and listening are two different things. A lot of people will hear the music but when you listen to the music I think it’s more like understanding what the purpose of the sound is. Listening to the sound is really just like composing and performing. That is because when we listen we are involving ourselves and we are expressing ourselves creatively.
Media
The video was over Susan Philipsz. What I find most interesting about Susan is how she treats audio and sound as a sculptural object. I also impressed on how she uses the sad history of concentration camps to get the “perfect” scary sound. Susan does a very good job at not only just determining the tone and atmosphere of the place she also understands the structure and bones and knows how to show what really happened in the past. Below I included the image of a location that Susan said was the location of a concentration camp where they would put all the creative people.
I listened to the One Square Inch of Silence video I wasn’t expecting it to complete silence and like maybe a Fossett dripping water and I was surprised that it included natural creations the earth made and animals. When I listened it make me feel extremely very calm and happy. It reminded me of two things one was a rainy day in the middle of July and I was sitting in my living room reading a book with the windows open so I could hear the birds chirping and the rain. It also reminded me of when I was in Florida over the summer and I went on a 6 miles hike on the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. While on the hike I could hear a whole bunch of animals such as birds, frogs, squirrels, turtles and alligators. Below I included two images the first one was the One Square Inch of Silence video and the second image is what I took on vacation when walking on the preserve.
Relevant Artist
This week my relevant artist is Bethan Kellough. She is a sound artist and composes and she has her PhD in sonic arts. A lot of people describe her art as “a film you watch with your ears.” I like that saying because you can’t really see sound but you can hear it and it’s almost as if you can feel it. I listened to a few of her field recording samples and I really like them. A lot of them are of wind and if you close your eyes you can imagine yourself being at the location. I myself felt like I would be cold because the wind was so loud and you can hear like a flagpole getting whipped around in every direction. Another recording I listen to was of frogs and I really envisioned myself by the river when the sun setting, listening to the frogs and crickets. I really like what Bethan does and I think its a very soothing.
Works Cited
“Events.” Bethan Kellough, 1 Oct. 2018, bethankellough.com/news/.
“Sound Recording.” Bethan Kellough, 18 Apr. 2017, bethankellough.com/soundrecording/.
“An Introduction To Sound Art.” Robert Worby - Writer – Composer – Sound Artist – Broadcaster, www.robertworby.com/writing/an-introduction-to-sound-art/.
I also very calm and relaxed when I heard the One Square Inch of Silence. I was almost expecting it to be a reflective silence but instead it was nature with out the presence of humans which I though was really cool. What I found really interesting about Susan was the sound she made using the damaged instruments that still made beautiful sounds. She really is a talented artist who can make any situation different or relatable just by using sound.
