4′33″ (pronounced “four minutes, thirty-three seconds” or just “four thirty-three”)[1] is a three-movement composition[2][3] by American experimentalcomposer John Cage. It was composed in 1952, for any instrument or combination of instruments, and the score instructs performers not to play their instruments during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements. The piece consists of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed,[4] although it is commonly perceived as “four minutes thirty-three seconds of silence“.[5][6] The title of the piece refers to the total length in minutes and seconds of a given performance, 4′33″ being the total length of the first public performance.[7] (From Wikipedia)
Emeka Ogboh:
Song of the Germans
The Song of the Germans is a sound installation by Berlin based, Nigerian Artist Emeka Ogboh for the 2015 Venice Biennale. He recorded the German national anthem in 10 different African languages (Ibo, Yorouba, Bamoun, More, Twi, Ewondo, Sango, Douala, Kikongo and Lingala). This is then played continuously, with a new arrangement each time: one singer starts the piece, then the others joining in at different points in the song, building up to the full choir.
Each singer was on a separate speaker, set at the head height of the singer. There was the really nice effect of a voice being revealed as you walked closer to a speaker. Text from: https://www.arthurcarabott.com/the-song-of-the-germans
Janet Cardiff:
Lost in the Memory Palace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAhrSiUeP2I
40 Part Motet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZXBia5kuqY
Alter Banhof (Video) walk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOkQE7m31Pw&t=100s
Kelly Mark:
http://kellymark.com/MULT_IRS_CD1.html
http://kellymark.com/OTHER_SoundBites1.html
http://kellymark.com/OTHER_Hum1.html
Marla Hlady:
Basement Base: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ws4v7x-FXc
Basement Bass was part of the exhibition Volume: Hear Here at Justina M. Barnicke Gallery.
A rotating floor has been turned into a bass speaker. The sound is the bass end of a field recording from the sub basement of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery–the droning room-scaled fans, humming air vents, gurgling and spurting water of the boiler system, etc. When a viewer stands on the floor, they feel the sound as much as they hear it. (From Marlahlady.com)
Dot-matrix Sympthony, The User
The artist creates scores to be interpreted (played) by old technologies – Dot Matrix printers:
Synth Loops, Christian Bok
The artist uses techniques and references from experimental writing and performances of sound-based texts:
Daniel Olson, Thumbrolley
The artist manipulates toy musical instruments:
Piss Record, Matthew Sawyer
The artist documents (and embellishes) his morning pissing:
Pipes in “C”, Anna Ripmeester
This artist had a noisy pipe in her apartment and noticed it was a tone in the key of C. She decided to jam with it – in the key of C:
Jonathan Monk, My Mother Cleaning My Father’s Piano
The artist finds a found composition at his parent’s house:
One Minute Apology, Laurel Woodcock
Artist is using a record to re-mix a song, with a persistent and unrelenting message:
A Day in the Life (24 hour version), Dave Dyment
The artist slows down the Beatles Song “A Day in the Life” to literally last a full day:
Brian Joseph Davis, Voice Over
The artist explores and re-performs voice-overs in a relentless disconnected list that makes them all sound totally intense and absurd:
I’m Practicing My Cartoon Voices, Steve Reinke
student-aaron mora onamatapeia
Listen to these student interpretations of the assignment below:
Lee Walton: From a project where the artist compiles the middle C note sound (and video image) from everyone’s piano. Even though it’s the same note – the C’s are amazingly diverse:
HAVE A LOOK AT THIS ARCHIVE OF AUDIO BY ARTISTS:
UBU WEB: Listen to several examples of pieces, and see if you can determine the ideas that may have prompted the works.
AUDIO STUDIO ASSIGNMENT:
Make a one-minute work of AUDIO ART.
RECOMMENDED LENGTH: Approximately one minute.
Final works will be posted on the blog, or your choice of audio sharing services/sites
No late assignments will be accepted.
______________________________________________________________________
Students will create an audio art piece between 30 seconds and 1 minute in length.
While the conceptual parameters for this project are open, consider some of the themes and strategies of the artists listened to in class.
Some strategies may include:
-You may assign yourself (or others) a conceptual feat, and perform it, or document it in sound.
-You may combine different layers of sounds reflecting places, times, popular music, and voices.
-You may interpret or translate non-audio experiences or spaces in sound.
-You may re-interpret noise or other found sound as music.
-You may perform a list, or other kinds of interesting found or constructed language.
-You may distort or edit found sound or music, to change its original meaning and effect.
Consider audio works by some of the following artists:
Dave Dyment
Santiago Sierra
Yoko Ono
Daniel Olson
Matthew Sawyer
Jonathan Monk
Christian Marclay
Kelly Mark
John Cage
Janet Cardiff
Steve Reinke
Emeka Ogboh
After critiques and final revisions – students will post their works with a title and short description on our class Blog.
