Soundwalking and Algorithmic Listening

Soundwalking is a listening and composition method that focuses on the exploration of the envi-ronment. With roots in the 1970s, the artistic practices that sprung from soundwalking engage both with the unmediated soundscape as well as with multiple approaches to its augmentation or the augmentation of the human sensory apparatus. Soundwalking emphasises the listener’s active and participatory role in the construction of dynamic compositions, shaped as much by the environ-ment as by their presence and actions. Given the increasing relevance of computation in physical and public environments, the omnipresence of the metainterface, and how hybrid environments emerge from physical and virtual spaces, this paper discusses how principles and methodologies of soundwalking may allow the exploration and, ultimately, the understanding of computational environments that are increasingly sonic. This paper explores how in these contexts soundwalking can be used as a poetic and aesthetic resource, leading to the development of a listening that em-phasises computation and procedurality, an algorithmic listening.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Miguel Carvalhais

Rosemary Lee

Conference

Publication date: August 2019

Publication date (Print): August 2019

Pages: 51-56

Affiliations

[0001]INESC TEC & Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto

Avenida Rodrigues de Freitas, 265

4049-021 Porto

Portugal

[0002]IT University of Copenhagen

Avenida Rodrigues de Freitas, 265 Rued Langgaards Vej 7

DK-2300 Copenhagen S

Denmark

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/RESOUND19.8

SO-VID: 8c144939-6ab1-4e8a-8f72-7c10dbb8d522

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: RE:SOUND 2019 – 8th International Conference on Media Art, Science, and Technology

Conference acronym: RE:SOUND 2019

Conference number: 8

Conference location: Aalborg, Denmark

Conference date: August 20-23, 2019

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Media Art, Science, and Technology

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/RESOUND19.8

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

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D. M. Berry 2011 The Philosophy of Software: Code and Mediation in the Digital Age Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan
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M. Carvalhais 2016 Artificial Aesthetics: Creative Practices in Computational Art and Design Porto U.Porto Ediçôes
M. Carvalhais 2019 Breaking the Black Box: Procedural Reading, Creation of Meaning and Closure in Computational Artworks Artificial Intelligence in Arts, Music and Design Berlin Springer
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M. CarvalhaisP. Cardoso 2018 Empathy in the Ergodic Experience of Computational Aesthetics ISEA 2018 Intersections Durban Faculty of Arts and Design, Durban University of Technology
M. CarvalhaisP. Cardoso 2018 Narrative Games in Ergodic Media Communication Studies 2 55 65
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K. Kwastek 2013 Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art Cambridge, MA The MIT Press
R. R. Larivière 2019 Acousmatic Recreations Composer l’écoute / Composing Listening Rennes Shelter Press
B. Laurel 1993 Computers as Theatre Reading, MA Addison-Wesley
R. Lee 2018 The Limits of Algorithmic Perception: Technological Umwelt Politics of the Machines: Art and After Copenhagen
R. Lee 2019 Aesthetics of Uncertainty xCoAx 2019: Proceedings of the Seventh Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics, and X Milan
R. LeeM. Carvalhais 2019 Net Art and the Performance of Images The Web that Was: Archives, Traces, Reflections University of Amsterdam
L. Manovich 2001 The Language of New Media Cambridge, MA The MIT Press
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J. H. Murray 1997 Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace Cambridge, MA The MIT Press
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P. Schaeffer 2012 In Search of a Concrete Music Berkeley, CA University of California Press
R. M. Schafer 1977 The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World Rochester, VT Destiny Books
H. Steyerl 2017 Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War London Verso Books
B. Truax 1984 Acoustic Communication Norwood, NJ Ablex
B. Upton 2015 The Aesthetic of Play Cambridge, MA The MIT Press
Jakob. von Üexküll 1934 A Stroll through the Worlds of Animals and Men: A Picture Book of Invisible Worlds Semiotica (1992) 89 4 319 91
H. Westerkamp 2017 The Practice of Listening in Unsettled Times Proceedings of Invisible Places: Sound Urbanism and Sense of Place Ponta Delgada
S. Zielinski 2006 Deep Time of The Media: Toward an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] C. U. AndersenS. B. Pold 2018 The Metainterface: The Art of Platforms, Cities, and Clouds Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[2] D. M. Berry 2011 The Philosophy of Software: Code and Mediation in the Digital Age Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan

[3] J. Bosma 2011 Nettitudes: Let’s Talk Net Art Rotterdam NAi Publishers

[4] M. Breinbjerg 2008 System Event Sounds Software Studies: A Lexicon Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[5] J. Bridle 2018 New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future London Verso

[6] P. CardosoM. Carvalhais 2014 Transcoding Action: Embodying the game ISEA 2014 Dubai

[7] M. Carvalhais 2016 Artificial Aesthetics: Creative Practices in Computational Art and Design Porto U.Porto Ediçôes

[8] M. Carvalhais 2019 Breaking the Black Box: Procedural Reading, Creation of Meaning and Closure in Computational Artworks Artificial Intelligence in Arts, Music and Design Berlin Springer

[9] M. CarvalhaisP. Cardoso 2017 Creation of Meaning in Processor-Based Artefacts ISEA 2017 Bio-Creation and Peace Manizales Department of Visual Design, Universidad de Caldas

[10] M. CarvalhaisP. Cardoso 2018 Empathy in the Ergodic Experience of Computational Aesthetics ISEA 2018 Intersections Durban Faculty of Arts and Design, Durban University of Technology

[11] M. CarvalhaisP. Cardoso 2018 Narrative Games in Ergodic Media Communication Studies 2 55 65

[12] D. Coupland 2011 Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work! New York, NY Atlas & Co

[13] F. Cramer 2005 Words Made Flesh: Code, Culture, Imagination Rotterdam Piet Zwart Institute

[14] F. Cramer 2013 What is ‘Post-digital’? http://www.aprja.net/?p=1318 2 September 2019

[15] J. Demers 2010 Listening Through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music New York, NY Oxford University Press

[16] C. ErkutS. Serafin 2016 From Ecological Sounding Artifacts Towards Sonic Artifact Ecologies CHI 2016 San Jose, CA

[17] A. R. Galloway 2010 The Anti-Language of New Media Discourse 32 276 284

[18] S. Graham 2006 Interrupting the Algorithmic Gaze? Urban Warfare and US Military Technology https://www.academia.edu/2887853/Interrupting_the_algorithmic_gaze_Urban_warfare_and_US_military_technology 2 September 2019

[19] B. Groys 2016 In the Flow London Verso

[20] G. Harman 2018 Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything London Pelican Books

[21] N. K. Hayles 2005 My Mother Was a Computer: Digital Subjects and Literary Texts Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press

[22] R. KitchinM. Dodge 2011 Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[23] B. Krause 2008 Anatomy of the Soundscape: Evolving Perspectives Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 56 73 80

[24] K. Kwastek 2013 Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[25] R. R. Larivière 2019 Acousmatic Recreations Composer l’écoute / Composing Listening Rennes Shelter Press

[26] B. Laurel 1993 Computers as Theatre Reading, MA Addison-Wesley

[27] R. Lee 2018 The Limits of Algorithmic Perception: Technological Umwelt Politics of the Machines: Art and After Copenhagen

[28] R. Lee 2019 Aesthetics of Uncertainty xCoAx 2019: Proceedings of the Seventh Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics, and X Milan

[29] R. LeeM. Carvalhais 2019 Net Art and the Performance of Images The Web that Was: Archives, Traces, Reflections University of Amsterdam

[30] L. Manovich 2001 The Language of New Media Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[31] L. Manovich 2008 Import / Export Software Studies: A Lexicon Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[32] L. Manovich 2013 Software Takes Command: Extending the Language of New Media New York, NY Bloomsbury Academic

[33] M. McLuhanE. McLuhan 1988 Laws of the Media: The New Science Toronto University of Toronto Press

[34] T. Morton 2013 Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World Minneapolis, MN University of Minnesota Press

[35] J. H. Murray 1997 Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[36] J. H. Murray 2012 Inventing the Medium: Principles of Interaction Design as a Cultural Practice Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[37] W. J. Ong 1982 Orality and Literacy London Routledge

[38] T. Paglen 2014 Operational Images E-flux 59

[39] R. Rucker 2005 The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul: What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning of Life, and How to Be Happy New York, NY Thunder’s Mouth Press

[40] P. Schaeffer 2012 In Search of a Concrete Music Berkeley, CA University of California Press

[41] R. M. Schafer 1977 The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World Rochester, VT Destiny Books

[42] H. Steyerl 2017 Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War London Verso Books

[43] B. Truax 1984 Acoustic Communication Norwood, NJ Ablex

[44] B. Upton 2015 The Aesthetic of Play Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

[45] Jakob. von Üexküll 1934 A Stroll through the Worlds of Animals and Men: A Picture Book of Invisible Worlds Semiotica (1992) 89 4 319 91

[46] H. Westerkamp 2017 The Practice of Listening in Unsettled Times Proceedings of Invisible Places: Sound Urbanism and Sense of Place Ponta Delgada

[47] S. Zielinski 2006 Deep Time of The Media: Toward an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

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