Sonic Mediations: Body, Sound, Technology
Sonic Mediations: Body, Sound, Technology is a collection of original essays that represents an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning field of sound studies. While sound is often posited as having a bridging function, as a passive in-between, this volume invites readers to rethink the concept of mediation by examining the relationships between the body, sound and technology. The chapters provide a series of focused case studies involving sound and music technologies, performances and installations, which address key issues for sound scholars: How are audio performances mediated by sound technologies as well as the performer’s body? In which ways is the immediacy of live performance influenced by sound technologies? How do bodies and technologies mediate the experience of auditory perception? What is the role of the listener in audio-based performances? How does sound mediate the experience of viewing optical media and how does this complicate vision-oriented theories of spectatorship? By incorporating a range of interdisciplinary responses to these questions, Sonic Mediations provides a model for the future of sound studies.
Carolyn Birdsall is Assistant Professor of Television in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her work on sound technologies, popular culture and cultural memory has appeared in such publications as Sonic Interventions (Rodopi, 2007) and Sound Souvenirs (Amsterdam University Press, 2009).
Anthony Enns is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Culture in the Department of English at Dalhousie University. His work on sound technologies and auditory perception has appeared in The Senses & Society, Culture, Theory & Critique and the anthology Hörstürze: Akustik und Gewalt im 20. Jahrhundert (Königshausen & Neumann, 2005).
"This book is essential reading for those in a postgraduate study of 'sound arts' (weaned on Trevor Wishart's 'On Sonic Art'), cultural and philosophical studies (interested in Foucault) or the professional performing-arts world. This is a thought-provoking book that you can revisit to expand your own thoughts on sonic art – and with historiophony you may be able to 'hear the voices of the dead'."
– Martin Coslett, Farnborough College of Technology in Intellect Journals/Theatre and Performance Vol. 3, No. 3
"Birdsall and Enns extend the limitations on existing disciplinary frameworks surrounding the study of sound, while at the same time elucidating fundamental concerns relevant to scholars of sound.... The end result is an attempt to establish a model for sound studies as a mosaic of innovative approaches where scholars from varied fields can enter into productive dialogues around shared theoretical concerns."
– John F. Barber, Leonardo
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