ROUNDTABLE

Project Work: Information through Sound?
Karl Salzmann introduced us to the topic “Information through sound?” He hopes to guide us into a sonic utopia by the end of the semester. During the RT, Karl has an open conversation with guest lecturer Jorge Sanches-Chiong; a composer based in Darmstadt/GER and Vienna. Karl and Jorge start by asking: “What is sound?” The lecture consists of numerous examples and demonstrations of different embodiments of sound:

High frequency noise (17-18000hertz); some of us could hear it, some noticed a noise, others did not (people above 25 years lose the ability to hear high frequencies)

John Cage: 4’33``(silence). Silence is impossible to hear; hence it is impossible to experience silence. Piece of silence in sonic dead space. Even if it is absolutely silent you still hear noises from your own body.  

Alvin Lucier: “I am sitting in a room“ (with the visuals from YouTube: sitting in a room video codec). Sound is modified by the physical space around it. In this context Karl mentions the start-up Ambisonics; a company that reconstructs acoustical space. One can also imagine sound as a mouldable sculpture.

Karl Salzmann: Echo in a tunnel

Pierre Schaeffer: “Etude aux chemins de fer” (1948) -> recorded noises made by trains.

Video of John Cage’s “water walk” from 1960. In this context Black Mountain College was brought up; a progressive art school (1933-1956) where John Cage was teaching.

Experiment with sound wave interference (play both frequencies, 220 hertz and 223 hertz at the same time)

Kurt Schwitters: “Ursonate”.

Steve Reich: “Its gonna rain” (original spoken by a preacher)

Composition “Crin” by Jorge Sanchez-Chiong performed by Patricia Kopatchinskaja.

Another example by Jorge: “Used Redux”

Johannes Kreidler: “Crisis sounds so cool” (Microsoft’s Songsmith fed with stock charts)

Music video from Einstürzende Neubauten “Autobahn”.

Video from Gillian Wearing: “2 into 1” (1997)