Mediated ficto-critical approaches for listening to creative sound studies

Presenter: Gail Priest (Sydney/Katoomba, Australia)

Abstract

Situated within the relatively young and fluid field of sonic studies, this presentation is concerned with the area of creative sonic experiences and how we write about them. I propose that discussion of this area can be well-served by expanding both the way in which this is theorised and the way this is published/distributed. It is based on an understanding of sound and listening that is correlational—an experiential unit I call sonaurality. I propose a tomographic approach to exploring sonaurality is particularly beneficial, one that allows for an inside-outside discussion of the experience. This position pushes against any remnants of traditional structures of objectivity, and critically distanced commentary. The tomographic approach allows for greater creative scope for the writer that can be developed through strategies of ficto-criticism whereby theory and creative textual experimentation are entwined nurturing a situated and reflexive understanding of the writer and reader. In a further disruption, I encourage mediated modes of publication and distribution. By using online platforms and their multi-media affordances, along with strategies drawn from digital literature we can allow for an embodied and emboldened interaction of the reader, and indeed, for sound studies to sound. 

Material (Requires a password: sonaural)