Sound and Theatre

Quadrivium, 2020

RESUM En les societats preindustrials, cantar i treballar era-i és encara-concebuda com una mateixa activitat, d'una mateixa experiència vital. No obstant, la gran transformació social que suposarà la industrialització de bona part dels Països Catalans a finals del s. XIX, i la progressiva implementació dels sistema productiu capitalista, sovint entrarà en conflicte amb les pràctiques culturals d'uns treballadors incorporats directament d'una societat agrària i artesanal a una d'industrial. Així, centrant-nos en la configuració de l'espai sonor de les fàbriques menorquines, volem mostrar els processos de resistència i resiliència en la transició d'una cultura preindustrial a una de modelada pel capitalisme fordista. A través del fet musical i sonor dins la fàbrica, resseguim l'experiència obrera de la industrialització a Menorca, de l'organització comunitària de l'espai sonor a la jerarquització i control d'aquest espai: del lloc de feina com a marc on es modulen i recreen sonorament els límits d'allò socialment possible d'una societat en transformació. Paraules Clau: Industrialització; capitalisme; paisatge sonor. RESUMEN En las sociedades preindustriales, cantar y trabajar era-y es todavía-concebida como una misma actividad, de una misma experiencia vital. Sin embargo, la gran transformación social que supondrá la industrialización de buena parte de los Países Catalanes a finales del s. XIX, y la progresiva implementación del sistema productivo capitalista, a menudo entrará en conflicto con las prácticas culturales de unos trabajadores incorporados directamente de una sociedad agraria y artesanal a una industrial. Así, centrándonos en la configuración del espacio sonoro de las fábricas menorquinas, queremos mostrar los procesos de resistencia y resiliencia en la transición de una cultura preindustrial a una de moldeada por el capitalismo fordista. A través del hecho musical y sonoro dentro de la fábrica, seguimos la experiencia obrera de la industrialización en Menorca, de la organización comunitaria del espacio sonoro a la jerarquización y control de este espacio: del puesto de trabajo como marco donde se modulan y recrean sonoramente los límites de lo socialmente posible de una sociedad en transformación. Palabras Clave: Industrialización; capitalismo; paisaje sonoro. ABSTRACT In preindustrial societies, singing and working was-and still is-conceived as part of the same activity, of the same life experience. However, the great social transformation that will imply the industrialization of much of the Catalan Countries at the end of the 19th century, and the progressive impetus of the capitalist production system, will often conflict with the cultural practices of workers incorporated directly from an agrarian society to an industrial one. Thus, focusing on the configuration of the Minorcan factories sound space, we want to show the processes of resistance and resilience in the transition from a pre-industrial culture to different one modeled by Fordist capitalism. Through the musical and sound fact in the factory, we review the workers' experience of industrialization in Menorca, the community organization of the sound space to the hierarchy and control of this space: the workplace as a framework where the limits of what is socially possible is modulated and recreated sonorously in a transforming society.

This book is a timely contribution to the emerging field of the aurality of theatre and looks in particular at the interrogation and problematisation of theatre sound(s). Both approaches are represented in the idea of ‘noise’ which we understand both as a concrete sonic entity and a metaphor or theoretical (sometimes even ideological) thrust. Theatre provides a unique habitat for noise. It is a place where friction can be thematised, explored playfully, even indulged in: friction between signal and receiver, between sound and meaning, between eye and ear, between silence and utterance, between hearing and listening. In an aesthetic world dominated by aesthetic redundancy and ‘aerodynamic’ signs, theatre noise recalls the aesthetic and political power of the grain of performance. ‘Theatre noise’ is a new term which captures a contemporary, agitatory acoustic aesthetic. It expresses the innate theatricality of sound design and performance, articulates the reach of auditory spaces, the art of vocality, the complexity of acts of audience, the political in produced noises. Indeed, one of the key contentions of this book is that noise, in most cases, is to be understood as a plural, as a composite of different noises, as layers or waves of noises. Facing a plethora of possible noises in performance and theatre we sought to collocate a wide range of notions of and approaches to ‘noise’ in this book – by no means an exhaustive list of possible readings and understandings, but a starting point from which scholarship, like sound, could travel in many directions

2020

In preindustrial societies, singing and working was and still is conceived as part of the same activity, of the same life experience. However, the great social transformation that will imply the industrialization of much of the Catalan Countries at the end of the 19th century, and the progressive impetus of the capitalist production system, will often conflict with the cultural practices of workers incorporated directly from an agrarian society to an industrial one. Thus, focusing on the configuration of the Minorcan factories sound space, we want to show the processes of resistance and resilience in the transition from a pre-industrial culture to different one modeled by Fordist capitalism. Through the musical and sound fact in the factory, we review the workers' experience of industrialization in Menorca, the community organization of the sound space to the hierarchy and control of this space: the workplace as a framework where the limits of what is socially possible is modula...

Public Sound Art is a fact in the 21st Century. Different artists, musicians and designers work with sound in the public space to produce different works linked to the enormous palette of effects and topics that cities provide: Max Neuhaus, a pioneer in the field of public sound art, used a wide range of possibilities in the works he installed in several cities. Other artists such as Bernhard Leitner, Georg Klein or Bill Fontana continue to design public sound art in the streets and spaces of different cities around the world. All of this activity has sparked interest not only in the fields of Art or Music, but also in Sociology, Architecture or Anthropology.

New Sound, 2012

This paper deals with the issues of possible relationships between the categories of exteriority and interiority in the soundscape of contemporary city life. The aim is to try and map complex relationships between these categories and to show how they are maintained in everyday life through the micropolitics of sound, especially during listening to the quotidian noise of a city and noise music.

International Symposium - Towards a History of Sound in Theatre: Acoustics and Auralities, CRI/University of Montreal – CNRS/ARIAS, Montreal, Quebec

The theatricality of today’s performance greatly relies on its own orality/aurality, that is, dramaturgy of sound. The current emergence of dramaturgy of sound is not merely an issue of artistic technique or theatre style; rather, it demonstrates a conceptual change in our theatrical discourse. The theatres of Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio and Robert Wilson are examined here as the case in point of the legacy of the historical avant-garde’s sound poetry and performance in which vocal gesture has been used to dislocate verbal meaning and make words/sounds resonate both within the body and in the space In contrast to the way logical speech flattens theatrical space, as Jacques Derrida interprets Artaud’s point, sound reinstates the volume of theatrical space: “Once aware of this language in space, language of sounds, cries, lights, and onomatopoeia, the theatre must organize it into veritable hieroglyphs.” Such hieroglyphic “writing” of theatre and performance that coordinates phonetic elements of language with visual, pictorial, and plastic elements of stage clearly prompted the corporal/erotic and the abstract/architectural impulses in Castellucci’s and Wilson’s current production practice

In countless New Age meetings, workshops, collective activities, magazine articles and advertising brochures, all around the globe, a rich discourse on sound, silence and aural space is constructed. New Age cultures constitute interesting fields of research on the articulation of contemporary ideologies of sound and hearing. New Age cultural discourse considers sound and silence to be major topics of spiritual empowerment and self-fulfilement; special emphasis is given to silence as a trope of an idealized lost calmness under current conditions of sensory overstimulation, as well as to voice as a trope of a genuine, yet endangered, inner sensibility, under attack in contemporary noisy environments. What is the impact of New Age ideologies of sound, with their special emphasis on the degradation of urban soundscapes, on wider aural sensibilities and acoustic ecology? How do these ideologies influence wider discourses concerning the quality of natural and human-made environment? What can we learn from the study of these ideologies about the theoretical bases of acoustic ecology and how can this study influence the future development of soundscape studies?

The origins of sound art are usually traced to previous sonorous artistic manifestations such as futurism or fluxus (see Labelle, 2006; Kahn, 1999). However, in non-sonorous manifestations it is also possible to appreciate some features of sound art that go beyond the dominant role that sound plays. By adding to the topic of sound art essential notions of temporality, spatial construction and social recognition, the emergence of a sonorous artistic practice which goes beyond the mere use of sound is revealed. In this sense, research in public sound art, which is the primary topic of this paper, provides three issues to which it is important to pay attention in order to pose new sound art theories and ideas: First, the viewer-listener, considered simply as a citizen; second, the city, understood as a sculptural space and a social space, and finally, derived from the previous two, the transformation of the concept of ‘space’ in the practices concerning the public sphere of art. The implementation of these concepts, which took place naturally in different artistic domains, represented the beginning of the creative use of sound and, specifically, the awakening of public sound art. For this reason, based on sound art studies, as mentioned above, the projection of the article goes beyond these writings in an attempt to connect sound art with the public space. Literature on sound art has described its origins through music, poetry, architecture and other disciplines. However, this article addresses its origin in connection with the specific area of the city. The sound installation’s pioneer, Max Neuhaus, will act as a guide towards this aim. This process allows a rereading of some of the most evocative examples of sound art and, at the same time, provides other references that will be valuable for assessing the growing interest in the creation of sound interventions in public space. The prolific career of Max Neuhaus, which covered a broad range of topics, will establish a connection between public sound art and artists and thinkers who are rarely linked to this medium. These connections will, however, offer new perspectives onto the most widely discussed topics of the discipline: temporality and spatiality. This inquiry into the roots of sound art is an attempt to make a contribution to its history, not only by way of evidence, but also through suggestions provided by works of art that are far removed from the medium of sound and by other contributions from different fields of studies

2013

This book is a timely contribution to the emerging field of the aurality of theatre and looks in particular at the interrogation and problematisation of theatre sound(s). Both approaches are represented in the idea of ‘noise’ which we understand both as a concrete sonic entity and a metaphor or theoretical (sometimes even ideological) thrust. Theatre provides a unique habitat for noise. It is a place where friction can be thematised, explored playfully, even indulged in: friction between signal and receiver, between sound and meaning, between eye and ear, between silence and utterance, between hearing and listening. In an aesthetic world dominated by aesthetic redundancy and ‘aerodynamic’ signs, theatre noise recalls the aesthetic and political power of the grain of performance. ‘Theatre noise’ is a new term which captures a contemporary, agitatory acoustic aesthetic. It expresses the innate theatricality of sound design and performance, articulates the reach of auditory spaces, the art of vocality, the complexity of acts of audience, the political in produced noises. Indeed, one of the key contentions of this book is that noise, in most cases, is to be understood as a plural, as a composite of different noises, as layers or waves of noises. Facing a plethora of possible noises in performance and theatre we sought to collocate a wide range of notions of and approaches to ‘noise’ in this book—by no means an exhaustive list of possible readings and understandings, but a starting point from which scholarship, like sound, could travel in many directions.