Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Practices of Listening: (Re)percussions of Sound, Silences and Censorship from (Post-)Apartheid South Africa

This project is situated in the area of sonic art and explores my personal biography in relation to sound, silence, censorship and social control. Using the artistic productions of John Cage, I examine silence as both an object—a recording in a fixed medium—and as a verb directly addressing the ques...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Swinney, Warrick
Other Authors: Campbell, Kurt
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Michaelis School of Fine Art 2019
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This project is situated in the area of sonic art and explores my personal biography in relation to sound, silence, censorship and social control. Using the artistic productions of John Cage, I examine silence as both an object—a recording in a fixed medium—and as a verb directly addressing the question of censorship of the self and of others. The interplay of silencing and silence is expressed in my artistic practice which employs, as audio palate, the silences between the words of significant political speeches from South Africa. As a consequence of this process I have excised all recognizable words in various aural and video works leaving only the 'Cagean’ noise of the silence. I further examine related aspects of silence and silencing through the metaphor of the mute button—a mechanical silencing device—which serves both as a creative tool in a recording studio as well as a censorial device to prohibit voices being heard. The beating, hitting and silences are all set against a backdrop of (post) apartheid South Africa for the expression of some of my personal and theoretical realisations.