In this module, I picked the Spatialisation for Installation & Performance and Expanded Studio Practice for Twenty-First Century Sound Artists options. I’ve always found great interest in multitrack pieces as installations as they lend themselves to that format (unlike Sound for Screen strangely). Option C was my other choice due to its technical nature as well as its usefulness to me and my practice in the present and the future.
I am leaning more towards option A as my pathway for this assignment as I am focused on creating narratives and stories. That aspect of sound art can be hard to express in a pure data patch. Artists like Yuki Suzuki have inspired me to make my work interactive, with my initial ideas for a multitrack piece focusing on interactivity and narrative.
A few ideas that come to mind are:
A dialogue between two characters in which the sweet spot for listening travels around the eight-speaker setup, meaning that the listener would be playing the role of one of the characters in that dialogue;
A soundscape where the listener would be stationary in the middle of the ring of eight, listening to a peaceful scene that slowly becomes uncomfortable to listen to with the introduction of out-of-character sounds slowly creeping up on the subject.
Even with these initial ideas (which I quite like), a problem for myself is creating a multi-channel piece that focuses on narrative when I know I won’t necessarily learn that much. I usually would be fine with this; however, I find it awkward to make such a narrative-heavy piece and interactive piece that would only be heard by the tutor marking my work. No regular person would be able to listen to it in all its glory as most people don’t own an 8-speaker set-up. On top of that, I go to university to learn, not just express myself creatively so it might be better, in the long run, to make a pure data patch instead.
I understand that one’s art shouldn’t be constrained by the fact that it’s for a university degree though reality cannot be ignored. If not stated explicitly otherwise, making a piece with content that is meaning meaningful can almost be seen as silly and ironic that something that has substance is graded.
As someone who has been debating if “true art “exists and if art can be this “true art” if it’s made for reasons other than the reaction, it’s trying to elicit, trying to figure out what I want out of my university art pieces has been an interesting journey and one which I’m still figuring out.