Hearing Voices: Sound Art Practice in a Cross-Cultural Context

This dissertation is concerned primarily with the body of work which has emerged from the author's project with endangered click languages in the Kalahari Desert. It looks at the development of his sound art practice by tracing the work leading up to Hearing Voices and by discussing the directions it has taken since the completion of that project. It examines the dichotomy in contemporary (sound) art between work which deals with ethnic identity and otherness and work which does not and outlines the ways in which the author's practice attempts to bridge this gap. Detailed examination of the socio-linguistic context of his work with Khoisan languages leads to an investigation of the issues and ethical responsibilities of cross-cultural practice. Links between acoustic ecology and language ecology are explored and consideration given to the way Hearing Voices and other works explore the boundaries between language and music, documentary and abstraction. The possibilities for new relationships between sound and (still) image are assessed through the author's use of new flat speaker technology and through an examination of the differences in approach required for the various media used in the Hearing Voices project (installation, radiophonic work, CD-ROM and work for multi-channel concert diffusion). Finally, the roles each of these forms can play in research-led sound art projects are considered