The Sonic Arts

Seminar| Leuphana Universität Lüneburg| B.A. Kulturwissenschaften | Modul: Musikästhetik|

In this seminar we will examine a series of specific moments in the recent history of sonic and acoustic experimentation within the arts. Though the course will focus primarily on those developments that have occurred since 1945, some readings and discussions will treat earlier examples of auditory experiments that similarly found their home in the context of movements and practitioners associated with the visual arts. One of the goals of this seminar will be to provide a genealogy for the now popularized genre of “Sound Art,” and as such, significant attention will be given to approaches in sound and noise that operate alongside and between more traditional media in the visual arts such as painting, sculpture, and especially architecture. In addition to the material on sound and art, consideration will be given both to theories of sound/listening, as well as to media histories of recording technologies that have directly enabled the work of the artists and musicians under examination in our course. Seminars will be structured around discussion and presentations, and we will listen to recorded selections of music each week as well. The course cannot possibly cover all of the significant developments in sound since 1945, so students will have an opportunity to research and write a paper on a topic not otherwise covered.