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Spinks, Tansy (2015) Associating places: strategies for live, site specific, sound art
performance. PhD thesis, University of the Arts London.
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Associating
Places:
Strategies
for
Live,
Site
Specific,
Sound
Art
Performance
Tansy
Spinks
PhD
submission
CRiSAP,
London
College
of
Communication,
University
of
the
Arts,
London
2014
1
2
Abstract
Claims
for
originality
in
this
thesis
lie
in
bringing
together
many
different
disciplines
in
art,
music,
sound
studies
and
performance.
The
methodology,
contextually
indebted
to
the
dialogues
of
site
specific
art,
performance,
and
sound
improvisation,
has
emerged
as
a
multi-‐disciplinary
one,
informed
in
part
by
the
study
of
those
artists
from
the
1960s
onwards
who
actively
sought
to
resist
the
gallery
system.
The
practice
has
driven
the
thesis
in
developing
and
continuously
testing
the
requirement
to
respond
uniquely
to
chosen
sites.
By
using
relevant
references,
instruments,
and
sonified
materials,
a
compulsion
to
convey
something
of
the
particularity
of
the
site’s
associations
through
sound,
is
performed
on
site.
In
the
course
of
considering
the
wider
implications
of
a
site
through
both
the
sound
performances
and
the
critical
writing,
I
propose
that
there
are
essentially
three
aspects
to
identify
when
working
with
sound
on
site.
I
define
these
as:
the
actual,
the
activated
the
associative
The
first
aspect
describes
what
is
essentially
inherent
to
the
place,
the
second
what
can
be
encouraged
to
be
‘sounded’
through
physical
intervention,
and
the
third
outlines
and
forms
what
I
have
coined
as
the
wider
material
of
the
site.
This
term
draws
on
any
relevant
aspects
of
the
social,
physical,
historical,
anecdotal,
and
aural
associations
that
a
site
may
proffer.
However,
it
is
the
notion
of
the
associative
that
primarily
informs
the
research
by
providing
a
methodology
for
the
practice
and
in
proposing
a
new
paradigm
of
a
live,
site
specific,
performed,
sound
art
work.
The
twenty
or
so
works
in
the
portfolio
undertaken
hitherto
have
existed
not
only
as
live
performances
but
also
in
virtual
and
physical
documentation,
critical
3
analyses,
and
in
the
potential
possibilities
brought
to
the
form
by
the
response
of
others.
By
addressing
this
new
taxonomy
of
approach
in
defining
the
actual,
the
activated
and
the
associative
as
a
kind
of
aural
ground
to
the
site
(borrowing
a
term
from
painting),
significant
live
sound
art
works
have
been
developed
to
temporarily
inhabit
a
space
by
exploring
this
latent
material
of
the
site.
4
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
go
to
my
supervisory
team
at
CRiSAP,
the
sound
research
unit
at
the
London
College
of
Communication,
University
of
the
Arts,
London:
Angus
Carlyle,
Cathy
Lane,
David
Toop
and
all
the
other
staff
and
visiting
speakers
in
the
sound
art
department,
not
least
thanks
to
Ciaran
Harte.
I
acknowledge
particularly
the
opportunities
to
be
involved
in
events,
practice-‐based
seminars,
symposiums,
exhibitions
and
publications
throughout
my
time
at
UAL.
Thanks
to
Thomas
Gardner
and
Kersten
Glandien
for
conversations,
to
all
my
fellow
PhD
students
especially
Phil
Durant,
Mark
Peter
Wright,
Iris
Garrelfs,
Idit
Nathan.
Thanks
also
to
Stephen
Connor,
then
at
Birkbeck
for
his
initial
encouragement
to
apply.
I
am
grateful
to
Nick
Rampley
for
his
steady
support
(and
reliable
wielding,
when
required,
of
a
video
camera)
and
to
Francesca
and
Josie
Rampley,
John
and
Jennifer
Spinks.
Thanks
go
to
all
my
supportive
colleagues
in
the
Fine
Art
department
at
Middlesex
University,
notably
from
Head
of
Department
Phil
Healey
in
sponsoring
my
PhD,
Peter
Williams
for
sound
technical
advice,
Fran
Ross
for
video
editing,
Susan
Lok
for
the
chance
to
present
at
research
events,
John
Dack
and
his
Sonic
Art
lectures,
Nic
Sandiland
and
to
Michael
Bradley
for
his
enthusiasm
for
violins
and
photography.
Thanks
also
to
my
collaborator
on
the
Seven
Improvised
Bridges
and
Seven
Improvised
Bows
videos,
Klega.
Thanks
to
Jean
Fisher,
John
Seth
and
Jefford
Horrigan
(now
ex-‐Middlesex
tutors)
for
first
encouragements
and
at
Central
St
Martins,
Anne
Tallentire
for
her
midway
vote
of
confidence
and
the
valuable
practice-‐led
opportunities
provided
by
the
Sensingsite
team
of
Susan
Trangmar,
Stephen
Ball
and
Duncan
White
and
the
other
student
participants.
Many
thanks
to
Graham
Treacher,
who
diligently
read
the
whole
thesis
in
messy
draft
form
and
Deborah
Padfield
for
her
years
of
support,
to
editor
Emma
Callery
and
Jenn
Tomomitsu
for
helping
to
make
the
document
look
so
credible
and
to
James
Gosling
of
Schein
for
(re)
designing
my
website
with
a
new
emphasis
and
the
appendix
as
a
catalogue
of
sound
art
works.
Michael
Curran
set
me
on
this
path
by
having
the
confidence
to
give
me
my
first
improvised
performance
opportunity
at
the
Camden
Arts
5
Centre
in
his
event
Fassbinder’s
Jukebox,
2005
with
the
support
of
Jenny
Lomax.
I
have
been
assisted
by
many
people
over
the
years
and
thanks
are
due
to
particularly
to
sound
assistants
Mike
Skeet
for
the
Sonic
Triangle
recording,
Dave
Hunt
for
the
Max
patch,
Emanuele
Cendron,
for
all
his
patient
assistance
with
sound
editing
(and
making),
and
to
enthusiastic
fellow
performers
Antoine
Bertin,
Jan
Hendrickse,
Greta
Pistaceci,
Vaida
Kidykaite,
Sunil
Chandy,
Aurélie
Mermod,
curators
Kate
Ross,
Hayley
Dixon.
I
am
indebted
to
David
Morris
for
his
poetic
reflections
and
to
all
those
who
contributed
such
valuable
anecdotal
responses.
Inspiring
conferences
were
devised
by:
Michael
Gallagher,
Experimenting
With
Geography
(Edinburgh
University),
Marcus
Leadley,
Space:
the
Real
and
the
Abstract
(Wolverhampton
University),
Ansa
LØnstrup,
Audiovisuality
(Aarhus,
Denmark),
The
Global
Composition
(Darmstadt-‐Dieburg,
Germany),
Christian
Wissel,
Goldsmiths’
Engaging
Tactics,
Revealing
Secrets
(stream
for
the
British
Sociologists
Association
annual
conference),
Cathy
Lane,
Hernoise
symposium
(Tate
Modern
&
LCC),
Supersonix
conference,
South
Kensington
museums,
Sounding
Space
(Chelsea
College
of
Art),
The
Engine
Room
(Morley
College’s
Cardew
festival),
the
Acts
Re-Acts
residency
and
festival
of
performance
at
Wimbledon
Space,
(alongside
Iris
Garrelfs),
and
Marcus
Orlandi’s
event
Prop
and
Proposition,
the
Body
as
Sculpture
(Pitzhanger
Manor),
all
of
which
assisted
in
the
formation
of
my
ideas.
Tansy
Spinks,
2014
6
Table
of
contents
Abstract
3
Acknowledgements
5
Preface
11
Practice
contents
page
15
Chronology
of
works
17
Outline
of
chapters
23
Introduction
to
my
practice
25
Chapter
One:
Sounds
and
sights
Fontana
and
musical
shadows
31
Neuhaus,
Vostell
and
sound
Installation
38
Phillipsz
and
everyday
spaces
44
Cardiff
and
narrative
sound
48
Space
and
geographies
51
Conclusions
56
Chapter
Two:
Site
specificity
and
hearing
spaces
Beyond
the
white
cube:
Duchamp’s
on-‐going
legacy
59
Site
specificity
as
critique
60
Framing
theories
of
site
specificity
64
LaBelle
and
the
conditions
of
site
70
Hearing
spaces
74
Live
and
recorded
76
Echo
and
affect
79
Dislocating
sources
83
Without
walls
86
7
Chapter
Three:
Associations
and
evocation
The
material
of
the
site
91
Approaching
a
site
specific
sound
work
92
Description
and
analysis
of
Silent
Zone,
2012
93
Locations
and
site
visits
94
The
material
96
A
description
of
the
event
96
The
significance
of
the
texts
98
The
sounds
made
98
Examples
from
the
‘sounds
heard’
log
99
Summarising
the
material
of
the
site
100
Evocation
and
the
mimetic
tendency
101
The
mimic
102
Defining
my
Three
Terms
of
Association
106
‘It
is
by
Imitating
that
we
Invent’
110
Compositional
mimesis
115
Chapter
Four:
Sound,
method
and
form
Transcription:
the
material
of
the
site
into
sound
119
List
one:
an
inventory
of
materials
124
List
two:
an
inventory
of
places
and
sounds
124
Perpetuation
as
a
compositional
and
metaphorical
device:
defining
the
loop
127
Contexts
of
the
loop
130
The
role
and
uses
of
rhythm
(with
reference
to
Lefebvre)
134
Rhythm
and
implication
137
Take
a
Space,
Make
a
Sound
In
It
138
8
Chapter
Five:
Method,
process
and
presence
‘How
do
you
want
it
to
sound?’
147
Overview
of
methods,
sounds
and
compositional
parameters
148
‘Experimental’
152
Melody?
154
Challenging
conventions
156
The
instrument
and
amplification
159
Extension,
disruption
and
materiality
164
Activations
167
Improvisations
170
Performing
place
172
The
uses
of
liveness
179
What
is
liveness?
180
Liveness
and
the
interruption
of
space
180
Liveness
and
physical
presence
in
performance
184
Liveness
in
relation
to
recording
190
Liveness
as
engagement
192
Liveness
as
improvisation
194
Liveness
and
place
196
Concluding
liveness
199
Conclusions
201
Introduction
to
appendix
207
Bibliography
209
9
