McConnachie, P (2023) Soundings: A Practice Led investigation into Interactive and Immersive Sound Art Installations 2000-2018. Doctoral thesis, Liverpool John Moores University.

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Abstract

This thesis proposes Soundings to investigate interactivity, engagement and immersion while exposing an argument for knowledge concerning sound installation art in the 21st-century. This will be achieved through a system of artworks, interviews, observations and analysis of research findings. The objective, as an enquiry, acknowledges sound art relative to contemporary installation practice initiated from a visit to the Sonic Boom exhibition in the year (2000). As an artist who works digitally and employs sound and video as the pervasive practice, this examination exists in the sonic arts connected within the vocabulary of visuality. Possessing an auditory recognition related to creative compositions has been the stimulation, emphasising play as the central constituent of embodiment and interactivity.

The 21st-century arrived with a Sonic Boom of associations amongst progressions of software and hardware while acknowledging the technical proficiency, creative vision, personal values and cultural context to create engaging and meaningful works that connect with audience members. Specific technology is omnipresent and the thesis is separated into four chapters, with each stage discussing the author’s artworks, further supporting the practice-led aspect of the project. Queries include, what is the role of the audience when presented with a sound installation that requires some form of engagement? Therefore, this research investigates the different roles of participator, composer and author from the perspective of the exhibition Playback in 2018.

Demonstrating with digital sound refers to any sound manipulated, created or processed using specific technology as the principal motivation for an exhibition. The space in which the sound art is exhibited provides a physical framework but also influences how it is perceived and experienced by the audience.

Compositions, performance and participants creating sound works present this thesis as a 21st-century account, making up two volumes. Sound, installation and space become the compositional framework and an arrangement of associations where immersion and perception are expected in the sound art installation. Listeners becoming actively engaged and playing with sound will take centre stage, inspired through involvement and collaboration. Seeking to reveal what it is to be immersed in sound art, the digital practice includes physical and computer-mediated intermedia installations designed to reveal theoretical positions in immersive auditory taxonomies.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Interactivity; Immersion; Sound Art; Technology
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general T Technology > T Technology (General)
Divisions:	Art & Design
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	02 Aug 2023 15:45
Last Modified:	02 Aug 2023 15:46
DOI or ID number:	10.24377/LJMU.t.00020501
Supervisors:	Fallows, C, MacKinnon-Day, P and Appleton, P
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/20501

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