The Status of Sound: Writing Histories of Sonic Art

What is “sound art”? Should we define it within the context of experimental music or the visual arts or both? While the term first came into being in the 1980s, sound in the visual arts has a far longer history, ranging from Modernist experiments with synesthesia to the avant-garde exploits of Dada and Futurism. Sound art also has a distinctly musical heritage, emerging from the compositional experiments of John Cage, Tony Conrad, La Monte Young, Maryanne Amacher, and Pauline Oliveros, among others. This conversation will serve as the keynote to an all-day interdisciplinary conference on sound art and experimental music.

To watch a video recording of this event go to: https://videostreaming.gc.cuny.edu/videos/video/388/

 

The Status of Sound: Writing Histories of Sonic Art 

Conference Schedule   *Audio recordings are available online; click through the header links to listen.

The Martin E. Segal Theater, The Graduate Center, 1st Floor

365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10016

 

9:00 a.m., Welcome Remarks

William Kelly, President, The Graduate Center

Kevin Murphy, Executive Officer, Art History, The Graduate Center

Claire Bishop, Art History, The Graduate Center

Introduction by Andrew Cappetta, Doctoral Candidate, Art History, The Graduate Center

 

10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., Sound Practice: Working Across Disciplines

Moderator: Meredith Mowder, Doctoral Candidate, Art History, The Graduate Center

“Sound/Art/Music: The Score, the Performance, and Nam June Paik’s Early Electronic Music,” Miki Kaneda, PhD, Music (Ethnomusicology), University of California, Berkeley

“VALIE EXPORT and the Sexual Politics of Sound,” Amalle Dublon, Doctoral Candidate, Literature (with Certificate in Feminist Studies), Duke University

“The Other Side of Time: Vibration, Mythscience, and the Tapes of DJ Screw,” David Michael Perez, MA, History of Art with Honors, Goldsmiths, London

“Physical Memories: The Audio-Visual Assemblages of Oneohtrix Point Never,” Hisham Awad, MA, Aural and Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, London

 

12:00–1:00 p.m., Lunch Break

 

1:00-3:00 p.m., Recording Sound: Theorizing Sonic Art

Moderator: Lauren Rosati, Doctoral Candidate, Art History, The Graduate Center

“Ephemeral, Immersive, Invasive: Sound as Curatorial Theme, 1966-2006,” Seth Cluett, Doctoral Candidate, Music Composition, Princeton University

“Out of Earshot, Out of Mind, the Tribulations of Object-Oriented Sound,” Rahma Khazam, MA in Philosophy, MA in Art History, Doctoral Candidate, Art and Aesthetics, Université de la Sorbonne, Paris

“Vibrant Matter: Sound Art and Locational Determinacy,” Charles Eppley, Doctoral Candidate, Art History, Stony Brook University

“Sounding the Body Electric: Experiments in Art and Music from Eastern Europe in the 1960s,” David Crowley, Professor, Royal College of Art, London

 

4:00-6:00 p.m., Keynote Roundtable Discussion

Christoph Cox, Professor of Philosophy, Hampshire College

David Grubbs, Associate Professor at the Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College

Branden Joseph, Professor of Art History, Columbia University

Marina Rosenfeld, Professor of Music and Sound, Bard College

 

6:00-8:00 p.m., Reception in conjunction with the opening of Maja Bajević’s exhibition To Be Continued

The James Gallery, The Graduate Center Lobby

 

For more information, visit http://www.thestatusofsound.com

Cosponsored by the PhD Program in Art History and supported in part by the John Rewald Endowment of the PhD Program in Art History