What does art sound like? Sonic sculptors are creating museum pieces and interactive installations that purposely blur the lines between music, art and seemingly random noise.
The palette is endless: starting with the natural elements of wind and water, the ambient sound of an audience shuffling its feet, industrial percussion, digital samples, radio transmissions, the acoustic and the amplified. Sonic art is meant to be experienced in as many dimensions as possible, including the physical intimacy of sound waves passing through the body.
In the digital age sonic art has become the expressive mode of choice among avant-garde sculptors and composers. Technology can broaden the range and polish the precision of sonic sculpture; it can also threaten the spontaneity of the artist and the audience tuning in to the music of what’s happening in a museum or on the street.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Ron Kuivila, sound artist and Professor of Music at Wesleyan University.