Medienarchiv zu Bernhard Gáls Dissertation
HÖRORTE | KLANGRÄUME
Eine transdisziplinäre Topografie installativer Klangkunst
Abstracts der Dissertation
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HÖRORTE | KLANGRÄUME Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doctor of Philosophy – PhD, 2021 Interuniversitäres Doktoratsstudium Wissenschaft und Kunst in Verbindung mit dem |
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Gegenstand der Dissertation sind Präsentationen der installativen Klangkunst. Mittels Methoden einer transdisziplinären Feldforschung werden ortsbezogene Gestaltungsstrategien sowie Rezeptionsaspekte anhand von sieben Fallbeispielen dargestellt. Kunstschaffende und Kurator*innen werden über Gespräche, E Mail-Korrespondenzen oder mittels Fragebogenaussendungen eingebunden. |
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Bernhard Gál in connection with the |
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This dissertation discusses site-specific aspects of installative sound art. Employing methods of transdisciplinary field research and based on empirical data specifically collected on site, it examines production strategies and aspects of audience reception of seven selected presentations. Further insights into the applied creative strategies are revealed through questionnaires, conversations, and email correspondences with the participating artists and curators.
The starting point and guiding research question is: to what extent do space- and site-related aspects and the respective exhibition format affect the conceptual design as well as the production and presentation of installative sound art? As such, this study can be regarded as a hands-on model study of sound art research. It also shows that the scientific sound art discourse requires a pooling of several fields of knowledge, in order to adequately meet the complexity of artistic manifestations. The applied methodical approaches are critically reflected. This study demonstrates that the ‘auditory space’ available per work depends on the applied artistic and curatorial strategies, as well as roomacoustic preconditions and sociocultural contexts. In this respect, solo presentations open up more creative leeway. Especially in interior spaces, the auditory sphere needs not to be shared with other acoustic events, rendering low-volume sounds audible. Quite on the contrary, group constellations lead to possibly problematic acoustic overlapping. This may be restrained by means of various activating mechanisms, added sections of silence, or the inclusion of headphone-based or non-sounding works. Sound art works in public space can be considered group presentations insofar as they imply shared auditory spheres as well, in this case an amalgamation with everyday sounds. Depending on the context of the presentation site, different sections of the public are reached with varying degrees of attention. Designated art venues address an informed, yet smaller audience, whereas presentations within the public sphere may involve a greater number of people, yet in most cases show a less intense engagement with the proposed art works. Although sound artists employ highly individual creative strategies, some overall tendencies can be observed. Multichannel works as well as works with longer durations or multifarious structures are predominantly conceived by artists with musical backgrounds. However, artists with a background in the visual arts are inclined to apply sculptural strategies or homogeneous sound structures. The first chapter serves to introduce the research question and the methodological approach as well as to illustrate the scientific context and the current state of research. Chapter 2 outlines the scope of installative sound art, delineating definitory attempts and terminological backgrounds and highlighting pivotal aspects of site-specific sound art. In chapter 3 the introduced hypotheses and methodical approaches are subjected to practical tests, investigating seven sound art presentations in Bonn, Koblenz, Krems, Salzburg and Vienna. Chapter 4 presents a summary of the research results, a conclusion, and an outlook. Aside from a bibliography and a table of figures, the appendix comprises a compilation of all documented materials and the received artists’ questionnaires. As an audiovisual extension of this study, selected media excerpts are made available in an online archive. |
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