Introduction
“What I’m trying out at this stage in my life is new formats, or new settings maybe’ or formats and settings that have been tried before but then been forgotten or put aside because established formats have such a powerful hold on our thinking’ I’m frustrated by [” ‘] all the familiar routines that frame practice and discourse [“‘] what I want to do is modest, small scale, quiet’ and uncertain – just a slight shift of conditions [“‘] a big thing but small, a conversation that can be quiet but loud‘” – (Toop & Parkson pg 582)
Reflection & Discussion
Some points that Toop brought up I think are rather interesting. Toop prefers to call sound art ‘sound work’. Some people may interpret this as a job, and not ‘art’. I understand those points but also work can be fun, and art is a job… if you want it to be. Toop may want to have the mindset of it being a job. As it may feel more productive for him, as most people do view art as a hobby. Treating it as a job may psychologically trick him into being more productive or something along those lines. Just something to keep in mind as we all view it differently.
Conclusion/Future Work
In conclusion, this article brings up some interesting points that I found interesting to read. Like how Toop prefers to refer to sound art as ‘Sound Work’ as he may not think of art as a job inherently or that when people hear sound art they might just think it’s a hobby. So he might say it to make it more professional sounding, or as he finds it more helpful to think of it as a job. Overall a fascinating piece of writing.
Questions
Sound art was first used in 1983, who coined the term?
Answer
William Hellermann supposedly coined the term for an art exhibition he was holding. Which he called Sound Art. But there is a good chance this term was used before then. But for now, that is supposedly where the term was coined.
Is all expensive art money laundering?
Yes and No. Some people will use this as a way to dodge tax and launder money, but there are people who buy art because they want the piece. With no criminal intent.
References
Licht, A. (2009). Sound Art: Origins, development, and ambiguities. Organized Sound, 14(01), p.3.
www.google.com. (n.d.). Etymology – Google Search. [online] Available at: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Etymology.
Parkinson, A. & Toop, D (2015) – Unfinished Business: A Conversation on Sound Art in the United Kingdom.
Glossary
Orthodox – Systematic way of going about work. Set rules to go by and not going by these would be unorthodox. Sound work inherently is unorthodox.
Problematic – Controversial work that may include issues that make people either uncomfortable to bring up issues that people may disagree with.
Etymology – the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history
Hybrid – A mixture of two or more existing things e.g. electric car, mixing both new and old technology together.
Genre – A classification of a specific style e.g. The horror genre is classified as scary movies, noise music is a genre of music that uses lots of white noise, extreme shifts in pitch, and highly distorted sounds.