Sonic Sculpture and the Performative Impulse : Sounding Things Out

This study considers the performativity of sound-producing sculptures made in the twenty-first century through a cultural history of certain works.

A subfield of the sound art medium, sonic sculpture presents new possibilities in sensory engagement with the viewer, creating a mediated experience for eye and ear. Contextualized within three linking nodes of sonic engagement – sonic sculpture as a socially engaged art, listening to history, and the use of the human body as the material of sonic sculpture itself – each chapter interrogates one or two works by a contemporary artist. These in-depth analyses of the works serve as lenses to the artists’ larger practices and engagements with things that sound. Artists covered include Nick Cave, Kara Walker, Janet Cardiff, George Bures Miller, and Ragnar Kjartansson.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, sound studies, musicology, and cultural studies.

Melissa Warak is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at El Paso, USA.