Frustrated, the word I would use to explain trying to read this interview with Bill Fontana, it is difficult to simply read, I have never studied music, I haven’t even heard of the people or many of the things mentioned in this, I don’t understand the technical phrases such as “8 channel sound maps… …fed these through a 24 channel matrix mixer”, and I have to guess what the likes of acoustic delay is, which I’m sure is very simple for technical musicians or other sound artists, which this interview is clearly targeted at, and which I am not.
However I did not let my frustration get in the way of learning about this revered artist.
What little I could gather from it was a reaffirmation in Bill Fontana’s belief in one thing:
the sonification of the inaudible
Bill Fontana claimed that everything has a sound whether we actively listen or not, the interview also mentions that he actively goes about “treating sound as a living object” as sound takes up its own physical space. These are very wonderful and innovative ideas, and has changed the way many people perceive sound and music.
In this piece he shows not just how musical the world around us is on it’s own, but he highlights how sound occupies physical space too.
Although I have only just discovered him I really appreciate what he does, before listening to & watching his work I rarely though of an audiovisual experience much past an LED screen, I often thought of visuals to be the main component of an audiovisual experience, whether it be cinema, video games, or an interactive art installation with flashing lights and some mild sound or vibrations, but he, decades ago, managed to create audiovisual experiences that focused on the sound as the centerpiece and the visuals as the bare bone canvas.
sources:
en.wikipedia.org
youtube.com
nytimes.com
resoundings.org
Liam, sorry you had so much difficulty processing this article. It wasn’t an easy one, but if you look at the works he is discussing on his Website, it begins to come to life. He also talks extensively about “displacing” sounds, which is something we are currently doing in our own projects. Not to worry if you don’t understand certain things, that what these assignments are about: getting you to think, and research, and discover what you didn’t already know. If something doesn’t make sense, google it, if there is a reference to a work, find it on the artist’s Website. These are all research tools I want everyone to learn how to use, because throughout our professional lives, we will be constantly facing this kind of problem: grasping something we don’t know very much about it. But you would be surprised how much you can learn with the vast resources of the Web at your disposal. In the past, you had to look everything up in a library in books! I think you did a good job with the concepts you addressed. Just be sure to make name the works you are referencing and provide embedded links whenever possible. And of course, you can always email me if you want to discuss.