Abstract
Recorded sound is often engaged in a complex relationship between past and present. As theorist Salomé Voegelin argues in Listening To Noise and Silence, the sounded past is made simultaneously present through the immediacy of sound in the act of bodily perception (170). In such a way, sound art pieces tend to be in conversation with conceptions of nostalgia, which have been generally under-examined in discussions of sound art. The term nostalgia here does not denote naïve idealism or sentimentality but rather describes the commodification of past time within the present. By applying the nostalgia theories of Svetlana Boym and David Banash, I aim to understand how nostalgia informs the work of notable sound artists Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz, focusing specifically on materiality, fragmentation, and temporal shifts. To do this, I explicate four works by the artists in light of nostalgia theories, drawing comparisons between the ways they treat and engage with the concretization and commodification of time. This paper thereby works toward developing a new approach to the diverse and highly interdisciplinary field of sound art while also highlighting how nostalgic impulses can undergird even the most forward-looking, experimental art.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Sound art, Sound, Nostalgia, Contemporary, Materiality, Fragmentation, Temporality, Theory, Collage
