'Paper'

June 13th

Full paper / Click::REVU. An Optophonic Sound Installation

Authors: Paul Dunham, Mo H. Zareei, Dugal McKinnon, Dale Carnegie

Work:

Click::REVU is an audiovisual installation that combines elements of the Optophone, a sight to sound prosthetic aid, and Dada’s optophonetic forms of sound poetry to reimage a historic connection with a contemporary form of optical media, the contact image scanner.

Typology:

Paper

Theme: media archaeology, optophone, Dada, sound art, audiovisual

Venue: CCCB

More information: https://www.dunham.co.nz

Abstract: If traces of past media remain in contemporary forms of media, how can these traces be appropriated and applied in the creation of a sound-based installation? This paper presents Click::REVU a sound installation developed by the first author. The work blends physical characteristics of an early sonification device, the Optophone – a device that translated optical data to sound – to create an illusory presence through a scanner mechanism from a multifunction printer. The work’s compositional structure reduces the scanner’s image capture ability to an indexical relationship that is expressed as a minimal soundscape of drones and clicks. As a media archaeological sound-based artwork, the ideation of Click::REVU has depicted a form of optophonics through the interpretation of early 20th century Optophones. These forms, as archival sources of knowledge for reinterpretation, have informed the development and realization of this work, one that is expressed through a genealogically related contemporary form of media, the contact image sensor scanner.

Biography: Paul Dunham is a New Zealand based sound artist. His recent work has seen a focus of the relationship between past and contemporary media and connecting their socio-cultural and technical conditions of existence. As media archaeology these relationships are represented and expressed through sound as recorded works, installations or performances.
In addition, he has composed a range of acousmatic and electroacoustic works utilising a range of materials ranging from broken media to environmental sounds.
His works have been exhibited nationally and internationally including the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference (Birmingham and Shanghai), ISEA (Durban and Montreal) and Ars electronica Garden Aotearoa (New Zealand).
He has recently completed his PhD in Sonic Arts at Victoria, University of Wellington.

Venue

CCCB

Montalegre, 5 - 08001 Barcelona

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