History of Sound Art

3.0 credits · Graduate

Practices associated with sound art can be found throughout the global twentieth century, but it emerged as a concept around 1980. What does it mean to say that a concept emerged? We will discuss this historiographical question at length in the seminar, tracing the genealogy of the sound-art concept and comparing its uneven historical development with various attempts at definition since 1980. Although many have advanced a logical definition based on identity conditions, we will instead adopt a historical approach. Our template will be Lydia Goehr’s influential argument about the concept of the musical work; other important authors will include Foucault, Davidson, and Hacking.