Behrendt, Frauke (2010) Mobile sound: media art in hybrid spaces. Doctoral thesis (DPhil), University of Sussex.

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Abstract

The thesis explores the relationships between sound and mobility through an examination
of sound art. The research engages with the intersection of sound, mobility and
art through original empirical work and theoretically through a critical engagement with
sound studies. In dialogue with the work of De Certeau, Lefebvre, Huhtamo and Habermas
in terms of the poetics of walking, rhythms, media archeology and questions of
publicness, I understand sound art as an experimental mobile and public space.
The thesis establishes and situates the emerging field of mobile sound art by mapping
three key traditions of mobile sound art - locative art, sound art and public art - and
creates a taxonomy of mobile sound art by defining four categories: 'placing sounds',
'sound platforms', 'sonifying mobility' and 'musical instruments' (each represented by
one case study). In doing so it develops a methodology that is attentive to the specifics
of the sonic and mobile of media experience. I demonstrate how sonic interactions and
embodied mobility are designed and experienced in specific ways in each of the four
case studies - 'Aura' by Symons (UK), 'Pophorns' by Torstensson and Sandelin
(Sweden), 'SmSage' by Redfern and Borland (US) and 'Core Sample' by Rueb (US) (all
2007).
In tracing the topos of the musical telephone, discussing the making and breaking of
relevant micro publics, accounting for the polyphonies of footsteps and unwrapping
bundles of rhythms, this thesis contributes to understanding complex media experiences
in hybrid spaces. In doing so it critically sheds light on the quality of sonic artistic experiences, the audience engagement with urban, public and networked spaces and
the relationship between sound art and everyday media experience. My thesis provides valuable insight into auditory ways of mobilising and making public spaces, non-verbal and embodied media practices, and rhythms and scales of mobile media experiences.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Schools and Departments:	School of Media, Arts and Humanities > Media and Film
Subjects:	M Music. Literature on music. Musical instruction and study > M Music > M0005 Instrumental music > M1470 Aleatory music. Electronic music. Mixed media N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
Depositing User:	Library Cataloguing
Date Deposited:	06 Apr 2011 13:55
Last Modified:	16 Mar 2022 15:38
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/6336

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