Learning Circle #4: Installations with Sound

Ann Hamilton 
The Event of a Thread 

Go ahead and check out both of the videos. In the first you get a glimpse of what the piece is like as an experience while the second is more of an installation explanation from the artist.

Still have questions?
Here’s another video to better understand the overall structure of the space.

Also, read this artist statement. It helps.
Because there are a lot of elements at work in the piece, Ann Hamilton’s writing is very illuminating and just a great little read.

Bill Fontana
Sonic Shadows
The video has quite a bit, actually a lot of text, explaining the piece so we’ll just let that speak for itself. 

Jim Green 
Laughing Escalator 
The best use of a laugh track I’ve ever seen.


Discussion Questions: 

The sound heard in both Ann Hamilton’s and Bill Fontana’s work depends on the point in time at which you encounter it. The aural experiences change from day to day, moment to moment in these pieces as opposed to Jim Green’s fixed track. How do you think the way in which the audience perceives and experiences the temporality of the audio and the performative/interactive nature of these two works differ from the third, if at all? What are the benefits and disadvantages of having a sound piece informed by an audience or a space?

How does the content of the audio/intention of the artist differ in each work?

How does the way in which the listener encounters the sound in the space (as a surprise in Jim’s, as a smaller abstraction in a larger work in Ann’s, as an immersive moment in Bill’s) change the role of the of the audio in each piece? Or maybe more simply put, what is the relationship between sound and site in each? How does the sound make you more or less aware of the space?


Bonus: 
Google will bring to you many more!
Janet Cardiff 
Ben Rubin
Alan Berliner
Christina Kubisch
Max Neuhaus