Sound Art Revisited

One of the more lucid and pragmatic books on the topic that clearly delineates boundaries between the terms “sonic art”, “sound art”, “audio art”. Quite enjoyable for its technically wonky perspectives on the field. After reading too much theory on the subject, it's refreshing to read about how artists engage with the AV equipment and recording media. This revised edition, in particular, is also a pleasure for the sheer amount of artwork cataloged. Rather than deep dive on a few important pieces, Sound Art Revisited enumerates hundreds of pieces and clusters them around meaningful categories such as “Sound in the Art World”. It seems obvious to discuss how visual artists use sound in their work but this book addresses it earnestly and historically. The lack of philosophizing about abstractions such as “Silence” and “Listening” also brought a real clarity to the material. Like every book on sound art, it does lean heavily on 4'33” and I Am Sitting In A Room to tell its story, but that only illustrates the relationship sound art has with the space containing it.

“It would be admittedly easy, on first glance, to draw parallels between the ambient chill out room and the sound installation in a gallery, and environmental sound as a source and model for both ambient and sound art. Both the ambient chill out room and sound art installation can be a respite from the urban environment, as an atrium would–the sounds are often meant to approximate natural settings. But ambient was meant to decorate a room, not to map it; it was perhaps a commercialization of some of sound art's qualities, rather than an extension or mirror of them.”