Still and moving lines: listening and signification in sound art.

This dissertation explores the act of listening within the context of sound art, examining how a particular mode of listening is essential to understanding and appreciating sound art works, and how this differs from conventional music contexts. While sound art is regarded as an art form and area of musical practice in its own right, it is often a discipline that is misunderstood or overlooked due to its cognitive impenetrability. A heightened form of awareness and listening is important to its reception by the listener, whilst it also informs the aesthetic and compositional decisions of the artist. The aim of the current research is to examine works where the artist has incorporated listening as a key element of his/her work. From here the relationship between sound art and the role of listening is scrutinised. Specific focus is given to sound art works which incorporate forms of performance, installation and visual media that transmit and realise the artist's intent.Thesis (M.Mus.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, 201