76-420 Comprehension and Communication

Units: 9.0 Department: English Cross-listed: 76-820 Related URLs: http://hss.cmu.edu/HTML/departments/engl Early in the century, many artists an intellectuals believed that since the 19th had been the century of vision (profoundly marked by photography, post-impressionism, artificial light, and the emergence of the cinema), surely the 20th would be the century of sound. And in many crucial ways (radio, talking pictures, the industrialization of music, the noise of modernity) it has been. Yet despite the cultural pervasiveness of sound to this day, as Douglas Kahn, and Gregory Whitehead remind us, "it remains almost unheard of to think about sound." This seminar will address this roaring silence by examining some suggestive but disparate theoretical work related to sound and by engaging with a range of artistic practices that explore the producation and reception of sound itself. We will start by briefly considering the philosophical discourse underwriting what has been called "the hegemony of vision," the deeply-seated visual bias dominating Western thought and culture since the ancient Greeks. Turning toward the faculty of hearing, we will begin to construct a critical theory of sound. After taking up film sound, we will take up two or three more problematic concepts in sound/noise and silence. Finally, we will explore audio art in its widest sense: sound sculpture and installations, radio art, the soundtrack--just about anything audible but not conceived as music. Across the scope of the seminar we will emphasize the production (and reception) of sound by artists, amplifying those creative efforts that, in having explored acoustics, soundscapes, and listening, might also serve to inspire students to incorporate sound in their own work.

Popularity index Rank for this semester: #1065 Rank in this department: #61   Students also scheduled 76-480 Document Design 76-373 Topics in Rhetoric: Argument 76-479 Marketing, Public Relations, and Co... 76-390 Style 76-382 Multimedia Authoring I 03-240 Cell Biology 03-121 Modern Biology 76-442 Communicating Across Cultures 76-470 Advanced Professional and Technical... 76-386 Language & Culture

Spring 2005 times

Sec	Time	Day	Instructor	Location
A	10:30 - 11:50 am	T	Flower	OSC 201
		R	Flower	OSC 201