Christofmigone Draft Cover Withnaumanimage
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
sonic somatic: performances of the unsound body sonic somatic: performances of the unsound body by Christof Migone acknowledgments A book like this does not have a single author, but is a series of conversations which the named author wrangles into a coherent whole as best as possible. The book converses with explicit sources that populate the footnotes, but also with influences and inspirations that inform the flow of these exchanges. The principal nexus of the latter is the Department of Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University where the dissertation I com- pleted in 2007 for the doctorate degree constitutes the bulk of this book. My years at nyu were enriched by Sara Jane Bailes, Barbara Browning, Steve Feld, May Joseph, Fred Moten, José Muñoz, Lara Nielsen, Peggy Phelan, Avital Ronell, Juan Salas, Heather Shuster, Mick Taussig, mj Thompson, and Claude Wampler. The support of Allen S. Weiss as my advisor has been unwavering throughout and I continue to be buoyed by his endorsement and encourage- ment. Another prime site of my engagement with both theoretical and prac- tical manifestations of all things sonic is Montréal where interweavings with the following persons ebb and flow as they should: Michel F. Côté, Alexandre St-Onge, Nicole Gingras, Steve Bates, Jake Moore, Lynda Gaudreau, Michèle Thériault, Jonathan Parant, Dave Bryant, Simon Brown, Raymond Gervais. Others who have influenced and inspired my thinking over the years are too numerous to mention, but there are some salient figures: Gregory Whitehead, Brandon LaBelle, Julia Loktev and Jocelyn Robert. And Marla, who unsounds me in a way that keeps me sound. This is a compendium of research and thoughts on sound for the last sixteen years – the earliest, “Vexations”, dates to 1995 and “Pneumatics”, the most recent, was written in 2011. The book contains a significant proportion of previously published material. In most instances each text was substan- tially revised for this book. Many thanks to all the previous editors and pub- lishers for their support. Chapter One Section 2 “Taciturntablism” in Places and Non-places of Contemporary Art / Lieux et non-lieux de l’art actuel (Montréal: Éditions Esse, v 2005). Section 3.1 “This Disquiet” appeared as the curatorial essay for the group exhibition “Disquiet” presented at Modern Fuel in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 24 August – 25 September 2005. Chapter Two Section 1 “Mouth Pores” was first written in French and appeared as “Bouche … boue … oue: une somaphonie buccale” in Inter No. 98 Espaces Sonores, guest ed. Jocelyn Robert (Québec, 2008). Section 2 “Flatus Vocis: Somatic Winds” appeared in Aural Cultures, ed. Jim Drobnick (Toronto: yyz Books, 2004). Chapter Three Section 1 “Utter the Stutter” appeared as “(untitled per- formance), a lexicon of false starts and failed advances” in Writing Aloud: The Sonics of Language, eds. Brandon Labelle and Christof Migone (Los Angeles: Errant Bodies Press, 2001). Chapter Four Section 1 “Volume” as “Volume (of confinement and infin- ity): A History of Unsound Art” in s:on Sound in Contemporary Canadian Art, ed. Nicole Gingras (Montréal: Artexte, 2003). Section 1.4 “Slippery Threads” as “Slippery Threads (an amplified concert critique)” in Angelaki: journal of the theoretical humanities, vol. 4 no.3, December 1999 (included in the Glissement dossier edited by Gerard Greenway). Section 2.1 “Pneumatics” was commissioned by Action Art Actuel, the artist-run center which presented Jean-Pierre Gauthier's “Thorax” as part of the curatorial project of Eric Mattson titled ondes : immanence ou matérialité, 16 September – 31 October 2010. Section 2.2 “Space is the Place is the Time is the Song” in Steve Heimbecker’s Songs of Place dvd catalog (Montréal: Oboro, 2005). Section 2.3 “Frictions: Sound Objects and Surfaces” as a review of the exhibition by the same name curated by Nicole Gingras in para-para No. 017 (Montréal: Parachute 2005). Section 2.4 “Ricochets, or How the Bullet Skips to the Tune of the Phonograph” first published in xcp: Cross Cultural Poetics, ed. Mark Nowak, Issue 6 (Documentary), 2000. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the profusion of dividuals and cultures that produce and disseminate the sounds, performances, objects and texts that have consistently challenged and expanded my writing and thinking. Without their obstinate silences and wondrous noises, this book would have undoubtedly failed to emit a single note. vi table of contents acknowledgments . v table of contents . ix list of figures . xi chapter one / soundmutesilence . 1 1 . heretofore unheard histories of air disturbances . 3 1 .1 sound itself . 7 1 .2 unheard of . 15 1 .3 breakdown . 20 2 . taciturntablism . 27 2 .1 reductio . 27 2 .2 moot mute . 41 3 . disquietude . 49 3 .1 this quiet . 49 3 .2 resisting arrest: the speechless body in motion . 51 chapter two / soundmouthbody . 65 1 . mouth pores . 67 1 .1 mouth agape . 67 1 .2 frozen speech . 76 2 . flatus vocis: somatic winds . 83 2 .1 south winds . 89 2 .2 incontinence . 96 2 .3 exit wound . 101 3 . leaks: stories of the spit self . 103 ix chapter three / soundtimeslanguage . 117 1 . utter the stutter . 119 1 .1 the performance of inarticulation and porosity . 119 1 .2 remainder . 128 1 .3 arrhythmia and claustrophilia . 135 1 .4 scream and run, run, run . 140 2 . metronomics . 147 2 .1 vexations . 147 2 .2 furniture audience . 154 2 .3 it never ends . 155 chapter four / soundspacebeyond . 163 1 . volume . 165 1 .1 of confinement and infinity . 165 1 .2 with in . 166 1 .3 provisional place and speech . 171 1 .4 slippery threads . 183 2 . depth charges . 191 2 .1 pneumatics . 191 2 .2 space is the place is the time is the song . 195 2 .3 frictions: sound objects and surfaces . 199 2 .4 ricochets . 205 2 .5 the announcement which stops the shot . 216 3 . as it empties out . 221 coda . 227 1 . statement on the state of sound art . 229 bibliography . 242 index . 259 x list of figures chapter one fig. 01 robert morris, The Box with the Sound of its Own Making, 1961 . 09 fig. 02 bruce nauman, Concrete Tape Recorder Piece, 1968 . 09 fig. 03 santiago sierra, 11 People Paid To Learn A Phrase, 2001 . 12 fig. 04 philip von zweck, Honk If You Love Silence, 2000 . 28 fig. 05 dave dyment and roula partheniou, Super Infinity, 2002 . 33 fig. 06 claude wampler, Knitease: Ms. Lefarge Give Another Historical Performance, 1996 . 34 fig. 07 claude wampler, Knitease: Ms. Lefarge Give Another Historical Performance, 1996 . 34 fig. 08 tom friedman, untitled, 1990 . 40 fig. 09 tom friedman, untitled (detail), 1990 . 40 fig. 10 bruce nauman, Circulating corridor – No access, 1970 . 44 fig. 11 joseph beuys, Das Schweigen, 1973 . 47 fig. 12 marina abramovic, Rhythm 0, 1974 . 58 fig. 13 joseph beuys, Infiltration homogen für Konzertflügel, 1966 . 58 fig. 14 adrian piper, Untitled Performance at Max’s Kansas City, nyc, 1970 . 61 chapter two fig. 15 hayley newman, Lockjaw Lecture Series, 1998 . 68 fig. 16 martin kersels, Attempt to raise the temperature of a container of water by yelling at it, 1995 . 73 fig. 17 adrian piper, Catalysis iv, 1970 . 75 fig. 18 uncredited, [Medium producing ectoplasm during spiritual seance] 75 fig. 19 ann hamilton, face to face – 8, 2001 . 79 fig. 20 ann hamilton, face to face – 16, 2001 . 79 fig. 21 ann hamilton, face to face – 26, 2001 . 79 xi fig. 22 cang xin, Communication_Series_No.3, 2000 . 81 fig. 23 cang xin, Communication_Series_No.5, 2000 . 81 fig. 24 cang xin, Communication_Series_No.7, 2001 . 81 fig. 25 christian marclay, Untitled, 1996 . 91 fig. 26 joseph pujol performing for Thomas Edison’s kinetophonolfacto - graph, 1900 . 97 fig. 27 vito acconci, Waterways: Four Saliva Studies, 1971 . 105 fig. 28 vito acconci, Waterways: Four Saliva Studies, 1971 . 105 chapter three fig. 29 tatsuo miyajima, na.ar. (Voice), 1981 . 145 fig. 30 xu zhen, Shouting, 1998 / 2005 . 145 fig. 31 roman opalka, Detail 993460 – 1017875 (detail), undated . 159 fig. 32 uncredited, [Roman Opalka at work in his studio], undated . 159 fig. 33 rober racine, Salammbô, 1980 . 161 fig. 34 rober racine, Salammbô, 1980 . 161 chapter four fig. 35 david merritt, moritat (detail), 1995 . 172 fig. 36 marla hlady, Proposition for tracing a conversation No.5, 2005 . 172 fig. 37 samuel roy-bois, I heard a noise, I ran away, 2003 . 175 fig. 38 michael fernandes, Room of Fears, 2000 . 181 fig. 39 jean-pierre gauthier, Thorax, 2010 . 194 fig. 40 jean-pierre gauthier, Thorax, 2010 . 194 fig. 41 uncredited, [Les cachots du pavillon Charles-Baillairgé du Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec], undated . 200 fig. 42 raymond gervais, Dans le cylindre, 1994 . 203 fig. 43 uncredited, [Please Pardon Our Noise … It Is A Sound Of Freedom], undated . 206 xii fig. 44 cornelia parker, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, 1991 . 213 fig. 45 chris burden, Shoot, 1970 . 219 fig. 46 bill viola, Street Music (part of Truth Through Mass Individuation), 1976 . 219 fig. 47 joseph beuys, Stummes Grammophon, 1958 . 219 coda fig. 48 alvin lucier, Music for Solo Performer, 1965 . 232 fig. 49 uncredited, [Maverick Concert Hall, Woodstock], undated . 240 xiii chapter one / soundmutesilence The sacred remains: the assault of the real, the dissection of fact, the mystery of unmeaning, the dwindling of self, the release into motion.1 adrian piper 1 Adrian Piper, Decide Who You Are, New York: Paula Cooper Gallery, 1992, xi. 1. heretofore unheard histories of air disturbances Merdre! 2 It is undoubtedly curious to begin a book ostensibly focused on sound art by considering such an infamous ignominious moment; nevertheless, this expletive’s impact is predicated precisely by the fact of having been voiced and heard – thus, I would contend that it is a significant marker in the history of the sonic arts.