Acknowledgements
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction: Auditory Relations
Fade In
Part 1: 4'33": Sound and Points of Origin
Introduction to Part 1
Chapter 1 Sociality of Sound: John Cage and Musical Concepts
Chapter 2 Exposing the Sound Object:Musique Concrète's Sonic
Research
Chapter 3 Automatic Music: Group Ongaku's Performative Labors
Part 2: Box with the Sound of Its Own Making: From Gags to
Sculptural Form
Introduction to Part 2
Chapter 4 Rhythms of Chaos: Happenings, Environments, and
Fluxus
Chapter 5 Minimalist Treatments: La Monte Young and Robert
Morris
Chapter 6 Conceptualizations:Michael Asher and the Subject of
Space
Part 3: I Am Sitting in a Room: Vocal Intensities
Introduction to Part 3
Chapter 7 Performing Desire/ Performing Fear: Vito Acconci and the
Power Plays of Voice
Chapter 8 Finding Oneself: Alvin Lucier and the Phenomenal
Voice
Chapter 9 Word of Mouth: Christof Migone's Little Manias
Part 4: Public Supply: Buildings, Constructions, and Locational
Listening
Introduction to Part 4
Chapter 10 Tuning Space:Max Neuhaus and Site-Specific Sound
Chapter 11 Other Architectures:Michael Brewster, Maryanne Amacher,
and Bernhard Leitner
Chapter 12 Composing Intensities: Iannis Xenakis's Multimedia
Architectures
Part 5: Soundmarks: Environments and Aural Geography
Introduction to Part 5
Chapter 13 Seeking Ursound: Hildegard Westerkamp, Steve Peters, and
the Soundscape
Chapter 14 Language Games: Yasunao Tone and the Mechanics of
Information
Chapter 15 Complicating Place: Bill Fontana and Networking the
Soundscape
Part 6: Global Strings: Interpersonal and Network Space
Introduction to Part 6
Chapter 16 Interactions: Achim Wollscheid's Production of the
Local
Chapter 17 Global Events: Atau Tanaka and Network as Instrument
Chapter 18 Live Streams: Apo33 and Multiplying Place
Fade Out
Conclusion: Auditive Pivot
Appendix: Peripheries – subnature, phantom memory, and dirty
listening
List of Works Cited
Index
Follows the development of sound as an artistic medium and illustrates how sound is put to use within modes of composition, installation, and performance.
Brandon LaBelle is an artist and writer working with sound culture and locational identities. His previous book, Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art, was published in 2006 by Bloomsbury Academic. He is the editor of Errant Bodies Press and organizer of the related Surface Tension project. He is currently Professor at the National Academy of the Arts in Bergen, Norway.
The rise of a prominent auditory culture, as seen in the recent
plethora of art exhibitions on sound art, in conjunction with
academic programs dedicated to "aural culture", sonic art, and
auditory issues now emerging, reveals the degree to which sound art
is lending definition to the 21st Century. And yet sound art still
lacks related literature to compliment, and expand, the realm of
practice. Written by The Wire's contributor Brandon Labelle,
Background Noise sets out an historical overview, while at the same
time shaping that history according to what sound art reveals—the
dynamics of art to operate spatially, through media of reproduction
and broadcast, and in relation to the intensities of communication
and its contextual framework.
*The Wire 2010*
Background Noise follows the development of sound as an artistic
medium and illustrates how sound is put to use within modes of
composition, installation, and performance. While chronological in
its structure, Brandon LaBelle's book is informed by spatial
thinking - weaving architecture, environments, and the specifics of
location into the work of sound, with the aim of formulating an
expansive history and understanding of sound art.
*Dailywatch.com*
Reading Background Noise for the first time introduced me to the
world of sound art, to its rich history, its incredible variety of
concrete works, its overview of artists working in the field, and
its discourses. It taught me how to think about sound in relation
to space instead of time. Now, some seven years later, Background
Noise is still one of my most important sources. It is a must-read
for anyone interested in auditory culture and sound art.
*Marcel Cobussen is editor-in-chief of The Journal of Sonic Studies
and co-editor of The Routledge Sounding Art Companion (2015)*
There are stones here. Stones gathered with great shrewdness by
Brandon LaBelle from the broad shore of relational artistic
practice; each carries the weight of its own historical
significance; each is perfectly shaped to deliver its conceptual
impact; each is thrown outwards in just the right sequence and with
just the right trajectory to set the ripples running, producing
patterns that continue to inspire the reader long, long after the
momentum of the book has come to rest. Background Noise is the very
best of books: as reverberant as the phenomena it so beautifully
articulates.
*Angus Carlyle, Professor of Sound and Landscape, University of the
Arts London, UK*
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