Re: [-empyre-] boundaries, or not

[fizzion <fizzion@optusnet.com.au>]

I concur with John and Glen re the lack of cross discipline discouragement
in institutions. I too experienced this problem while doing my Masters in
the Design School at UWS here in OZ. I hate bringing this up like a worn
record but its still an issue with some institutions and needs addressing.
There are I believe some institutions offering what is called a
collaborative curriculum, I think RMIT in Melbourne in OZ is one. It's
possible to pick your subjects from different faculties/disciplines and
design a course for your needs.

My work for the masters was with audio visual Flash pieces for the web.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fizzion
For some of the sounds in these pieces I used recorded sound manipulated in
Metasynth, which I find really intriguing being a graphic sound production
tool.

You might find the IOTA list interesting although it is pretty quiet at the
moment: http://www.iotacenter.org

I am curious about the interpretation/expression aspect of audio visual
artwork. What comes first, is it simultaneous, is one medium favoured over
another, does one medium provoke expression in another, can one
express/compose simultaneously in audio and visual modes etc. Film and video
comes to mind here.

The natural world exists on many different sensory planes, all integrated
for/by our senses. Technology allows us to listen to the stars and to the
sounds of electrons. So many possibilities, so many stories to tell.


on 7/8/03 3:13 AM, Glenn Bach at gbach@csulb.edu wrote:

> John,
> 
> I share your grief with regard to academic boundaries in art modes.  My
> program here at Cal State Long Beach has a strong division not only
> between disciplines (painting, ceramics, printmaking) but also within
> disciplines (traditional painting/drawing from observation vs.
> experimental practices).  Fortunately for me I've had open-minded
> faculty who have supported my efforts at folding sound into my work and
> creative process.
> 
> Even now, as I'm returning to finish my MFA, I see some resistance to
> some of my work that lacks a strong visual structure, like my soundwalks
> or scores.  So, for this context, I'm flipping it around, starting from
> the visual and working my way back.  I see my involvement in the various
> discussion list communities (microsound, lowercase, phonography) as a
> separate realm that I hope to incorporate, or at least inform, my visual
> art-making.
> 
> At the very least, microsound's lack of distinct boundaries, its
> relationship to quantum and string/membrane physics, and subsequent
> parallels in nothingness and impermanence, present a wealth of
> inspiration and metaphor with which to bring to the visual.  As such, I
> don't see myself as a microsound composer, but rather as an artist who
> incorporates microsonic elements and concepts into a multi-stranded
> practice.
> 
> 
> G.
> 
> 
>> This is a concept which is very important to me...when I went to art
>> school in the mid-late '80s (at least in the program I was in), although
>> it was a wonderfully eye-opening experience for me as a whole, the
>> boundaries were very much fixed. If you entered the program as a painter
>> like I did, your supported options for alternative modes of expression
>> were basically the other plastic arts, and even those sometimes were
>> "streichlich verboten": my attempt to merely smudge the boundaries by
>> writing and drawing a graphic novel was met with almost universal
>> derision, except for two open-minded instructors. God forbid I want to
>> do something with sound...it would have been "Well, go do a presence
>> track for the film department" or "Change your major to music, then."
>> 
>> It wasn't until much later that I finally realized it was "ok" for me to
>> pursue sound as an artistic medium, even though I had an interest in it
>> from early childhood. It took meeting two other artists who weren't
>> afraid of it -- Scott Kane, who I worked with in the duo Wireshock, and
>> Jim Schoenecker, who runs Topscore records [ http://www.topscoreusa.com
>> ] -- that made me realize sound was a viable mode of expression, and
>> could (and *should*) be combined with my other artistic interests.
>> 
>> It's very interesting (and comforting) for me to see, now that I'm once
>> again investigating graduate schools, that the academic art world
>> appears much more open to blurring boundaries--leaps and bounds beyond
>> what I experienced long ago as an undergraduate.
>> 
> 
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