Listening Art: Making Sonic Artworks That Critique Listening

iii Declaration iv Acknowledgements v Table of contents vii Tables and Figures ix Introduction: How can an artist make sonic artworks that critique listening? 1 Personal context 2 Problem 4 Aim and scope 4 Research question 4 Thesis overview 5 Significance 6 Chapter 1: Literature review: How has listening been critiqued in the past? 9 Psychoacoustics and auditory neuroscience 10 Listening studies 13 Listening and philosophy 15 Listening and culture 21 Listening and sonic art 29 Summation 50 Chapter 2: Methodology: How does an artist justify a sonic artwork as a critique of listening? 57 Art of value 58 Rationale for structuring sonic artworks as critiques of listening 60 Applying the rationale to methods of art production 64 Knowledge of value 67 Listening Art Table of contents viii Research methods 70 Method for determining whether sonic artworks induce critical engagement with listening 72 Data collection 78 Data evaluation 84 Summation 87 Chapter 3: Data evaluation: What critiques of listening do these artworks intend to form, and what is the experience of listening to artworks that intend to critique listening? 89 Notes on the showing process 90 Notes on responses 92 Critical engagement with listening across the showing process 93 Works 99 I’m here to listen 102 Sound, proof 116 Over hear 127 Memory walk 142 Summation 157 Conclusion: Can sonic artworks critique listening? 163 Aim and scope 163 Overview: findings, conclusions, implications 163 Unexpected findings, meaning, meaningfulness 167 End 168 Bibliography 171 Appendix 1: Plain language statement 181 Appendix 2: Participant consent form 183 Listening Art Tables and Figures ix Tables and Figures Table 1: Chronology of innovations in Western art music 31 Table 2: Concepts in participant definitions of listening (verified) 95 Table 3: Initial content and form of experiencing I'm here to listen (verified) 107 Table 4: Subsequent content and form of experiencing I'm here to listen (verified) 109 Table 5: Interpreted meaning or purpose of I'm here to listen (verified) 112 Table 6: Initial content and form of experiencing Sound, proof (verified) 120 Table 7: Subsequent content and form of experiencing Sound, proof (verified) 121 Table 8: Interpreted meaning or purpose of Sound, proof (verified) 124 Table 9: Initial content and form of experiencing Over hear (verified) 131 Table 10: Subsequent content and form of experiencing Over hear (verified) 132 Table 11: Interpreted meaning or purpose of Over hear (verified) 135 Table 12: Initial content and form of experiencing Memory walk (verified) 148 Table 13: Subsequent content and form of experiencing Memory Walk (verified) 149 Table 14: Interpreted meaning or purpose of Memory walk (verified) 153 Figure 1: I'm here to listen as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015 102 Figure 2: I'm here to listen Max patch 103 Figure 3: I'm here to listen draft version instruction screen 104 Figure 4: Sound, proof as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015 116 Figure 5: Sound, proof as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015, front view . 118 Figure 6: Over hear as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015 127 Figure 7: Over hear as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015, side view 139 Figure 8: Over hear as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015, corner view ... 140 Figure 9: Memory walk as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015 142 Figure 10: Memory walk as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015, walk in .. 145 Figure 11: Memory walk as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015, listening 145 Figure 12: Memory walk as exhibited at VCA Student Gallery, February 2015, walk out 146