SONIFICATION AND ART DOMINANTE DE LA JOURNEE (KEYNOTE)

Résumé En

After a brief definition of sonification I will discuss two creative approaches-that of Sound design and that of conceptual art. I will attempt to see how these differ and converge in their goals and methods particularly in the context of what we might call musical sonification. I will describe some examples of key sonification artworks and the aesthetic strategies they employ. Finally I will describe RoadMusic a project that I have been working on for some time, and the practice to which I apply my ideas concerning sonification. After a brief definition of sonification I will discuss two creative approaches-that of Sound design and that of conceptual art. I will attempt to see how these differ and converge in their goals and methods particularly in the context of what we might call musical sonification. I will describe some examples of key sonification artworks and the aesthetic strategies they employ. Finally I will describe RoadMusic a project that I have been working on for some time, and the practice to which I apply my ideas concerning sonification. It has been suggested in the past that sonification as a term should exclude artistic and musical usage of sound. I am referring here to an article by Sonification expert: Thomas Hermann that can be found in the 2008 ICAD proceedings [10]. In a special edition of AI&Society dedicated to artistic sonification that I guest edited [12], several artists and composers contradicted this position and Hermann himself has revised his point of view since contribution to the review which he co-signs starts with: 'Sonification today is an interdisciplinary practice ranging from scientific applications to sound art and composition [9].'