Introduction
“What I’m trying out at this stage of my life is new formats, or new settings maybe, or formats and settings that have been tried before but then been forgotten or pushed aside because established formats have a powerful hold on our thinking.”
(Toop p 582)
This article is a conversation between David Toop and Adam Parkinson made in 2014.
David Toop (b. 1949) is an English musician, author, curator, and Emeritus Professor whose practice crosses boundaries of sound, listening, music and materials. His work encompasses improvised music performance, writing, electronic sound, field recording, exhibition curating, sound art installations and opera.
Summary
In the text, Adam Parkinson asks about the usefulness of the term sound art, and what was used before its first application in 1983.
Toop prefers to use the term sound work, instead of sound art.
Toop finds the term sound art problematic for the following reasons.
- 1. The economy of the art world (issues of value – e.g Exclusivity, elitism, classism, capitalism, privilege, austerity, laundering).
- 2. The creation of an object (text, concept ,installation) – “sound work was always about a process”
- 3. Alienation from the working class.
Toop talks about the British culture of sound arts and what makes it different. He believes that comedy has played a big part in the evolution of sound work in the uk, siting Gilbert and Georges Singing Sculpture, Laurel and Hardy, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.
He goes on to talk about the influence of the BBC Radiophic Workshop, suppression of electronic music by the BBC but also the poulist effect of using it on state media.
Reflection and Discussion
Adam Parkinson refers to 1983 as being the first use of the term sound arts. Upon research, Alan Licht says:
“The term sound art dates back to William Hellerman’s Sound Art Foundation, founded in 1982, which primarlity seemed to work with “experimental music” or “new music,” although it did organise an early show of sound sculpture and other exhibitable work at the Sculpture Center in 1983″
Licht, A (2007) Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories, Rizzoli, New York
However, according to Judy Dunaway, there seem to be earlier uses such as an Exhibition at the MoMA in 1979 titled “Sound Art”.
Toop’s work is very much based on improvisation and musicking so I can understand that he doesn’t like the concept of a final material object to be the aim of creating. However, for me personally, I find the idea of creating a final piece alluring.
I think this is in the aim of achieving perfection in an object incarnate, but as I think about it there is only so much that can be gained from such a thing.
I recently finished the book The Chrysalids, what ended with the familiar taoist concept that life is water, fluid and ever changing, and as solid as rocks are, they will eventually erode. Experiencing sound in this manner is perhaps what improvisation is about, the fleeting sound of life.
However, if I listen to an album 100 time do I hear the same thing everytime? Sometimes I might hear new sounds that I hadn’t before as I wasn’t listening to that certain thing. This is something that isn’t experienced with the phenonomon of unrecorded anomalous sounds
Conclusion / Future Work
As someone who has never performed before, let alone improvisational performance, I find the prospect interesting. I do however prefer the idea of working in a style closer to that of CAN, where the improvisations are edited afterwards, mostly due to my aprehention to perform, though that might be because of lack of experience.
References (Harvard System)
Surname, Initial, (Year), Title, Publisher City
Small, C (1998) Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT
Dunaway, J (2020) The Forgotten 1979 MoMA Sound Art Exhibition, Available at: https://online.ucpress.edu/res/article/1/1/25/109397/The-Forgotten-1979-MoMA-Sound-Art-Exhibition (Accessed 7 December 2021)
Glossary
Problematic – Analyse the problems that arise from something