Background Noise, Second Edition

Brandon LaBelle is an artist and writer working with sound culture and locational identities. His previous book, Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art, was published in 2006 by Bloomsbury Academic. He is the editor of Errant Bodies Press and organizer of the related Surface Tension project. He is currently Professor at the National Academy of the Arts in Bergen, Norway.

The rise of a prominent auditory culture, as seen in the recent plethora of art exhibitions on sound art, in conjunction with academic programs dedicated to "aural culture", sonic art, and auditory issues now emerging, reveals the degree to which sound art is lending definition to the 21st Century. And yet sound art still lacks related literature to compliment, and expand, the realm of practice. Written by The Wire's contributor Brandon Labelle, Background Noise sets out an historical overview, while at the same time shaping that history according to what sound art reveals—the dynamics of art to operate spatially, through media of reproduction and broadcast, and in relation to the intensities of communication and its contextual framework.

• AcknowledgementsPreface to the Second EditionIntroduction: Auditory Relations Fade InPart 1: 4'33": Sound and Points of OriginIntroduction to Part 1 Chapter 1 Sociality of Sound: John Cage and Musical ConceptsChapter 2 Exposing the Sound Object:Musique Concrète's Sonic Research Chapter 3 Automatic Music: Group Ongaku's Performative Labors Part 2: Box with the Sound of Its Own Making: From Gags to Sculptural Form Introduction to Part 2 Chapter 4 Rhythms of Chaos: Happenings, Environments, and Fluxus Chapter 5 Minimalist Treatments: La Monte Young and Robert Morris Chapter 6 Conceptualizations:Michael Asher and the Subject of Space Part 3: I Am Sitting in a Room: Vocal IntensitiesIntroduction to Part 3 Chapter 7 Performing Desire/ Performing Fear: Vito Acconci and the Power Plays of Voice Chapter 8 Finding Oneself: Alvin Lucier and the Phenomenal VoiceChapter 9 Word of Mouth: Christof Migone's Little ManiasPart 4: Public Supply: Buildings, Constructions, and Locational ListeningIntroduction to Part 4 Chapter 10 Tuning Space:Max Neuhaus and Site-Specific SoundChapter 11 Other Architectures:Michael Brewster, Maryanne Amacher, and Bernhard LeitnerChapter 12 Composing Intensities: Iannis Xenakis's Multimedia Architectures Part 5: Soundmarks: Environments and Aural GeographyIntroduction to Part 5 Chapter 13 Seeking Ursound: Hildegard Westerkamp, Steve Peters, and the Soundscape Chapter 14 Language Games: Yasunao Tone and the Mechanics of Information Chapter 15 Complicating Place: Bill Fontana and Networking the Soundscape Part 6: Global Strings: Interpersonal and Network Space Introduction to Part 6 Chapter 16 Interactions: Achim Wollscheid's Production of the Local Chapter 17 Global Events: Atau Tanaka and Network as Instrument Chapter 18 Live Streams: Apo33 and Multiplying Place Fade Out Conclusion: Auditive Pivot Appendix: Peripheries – subnature, phantom memory, and dirty listeningList of Works Cited Index