Abstract

Originality: The chapter make the argument that the term ‘sound art’ can be used to describe a range of creative practices that have hitherto been regarded as distinct. It does so when sound art is reconceptualised in terms of movement and temporality. This claim is supported by the unique combinations of theorists and practitioners that are forged. The chapter proposes the simultaneity of the continuous unfolding sound event, and the static significatory mode of representation as hesitation, as a combination that constitute noise as a singularity. It is out of this noise that ‘the art that is made out of time’ emerges. Rigour: The chapter undertakes detailed readings of existing work in the field and combines them with new insights from contemporary art practice. It takes two opposing arguments in relation to the materiality of sound and the role of the sound artist, and rather than falling in behind either position, proposes an entirely new approach. This new approach is underpinned with reference to a range of classical philosophical positions that lend considerable weight to the argument that is developed. Significance: The author was invited to submit the chapter by the editors of the volume. The status of the other contributors is testament to the significance of the text overall. On its own the chapter allows ‘sound art’ to escape from the confines of strictly acoustic practice, and to become important within a much wider context. As such it makes a contribution to the wider ‘antiocular turn’ that is currently occurring as a theoretical movement in relation critical and aesthetic theory.