site of sound

[david turgeon <eerie@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

has anybody checked out the following item?  i'm curious to hear
comments...

~ david

-- snip --

the following clipped from the selektion website
<http://www.selektion.com/news/news.htm>

NOW AVAILABLE FROM SELEKTION
                                                    
Site of Sound : Of Architecture and The Ear 
Edited by Brandon LaBelle and Steve Roden
Published by Errant Bodies Press in association
with Smart Art Press Available direct from the
publisher, from DAP and SELEKTION 184
page, 7" x 7" perfect bound, black and white
with color cover, with compact disc. 

"Site of Sound : Of Architecture and The Ear" is an anthology
focusing on current trends in experimental music, sound art
and audio theories, featuring writings, visual works, interviews
and artist projects by leading experimental composers,
sound-artists, and architects whose work concerns itself with
architectural and acoustic space, sound sculpture,
field/environmental investigation and recording, and
site-specificity. Complementing this are theoretical, fictional
and diaristic writings by contemporary authors, scientists,
cartographers and ecologists. 

Architecture and Music have often been theorized as having a
stimulating relationship. 20th century composers such as Iannis
Xenakis, Edgar Varese, and Karlheinz Stockhausen have
composed works in relation to architecture and theories of
design, and have even built specific auditoriums in which to
perform their works. Further, architects (such as Bruce Goff)
often constructed their designs according to musical
compositions, theories of harmony and melodic structures. Yet
this relationship between sound and space, music and
architecture, is often left incomplete, or only hinted at. 

"Site of Sound" is a comprehensive anthology documenting
and investigating a highly active (though often overlooked)
and critical area of sound-art and experimental music which
directly addresses this relationship between site and sound.
"Site of Sound" brings together a diversity of sound-artists from
around the world and from varying traditions and practices.
What binds them together is a pervasive commitment to the
question of space, the environment and context in relation to
sound and music. What distinguishes these artists is their direct
involvement with the conditions of their surroundings, and
further, how they conceive of and construct their work in
relation to these surroundings.

"Site of Sound" includes site-specific projects from such artists
as Philip Corner, Tom Marioni and Alison Knowles, leading
figures of the historical Fluxus movement; Achim Wollscheid
and rlw, artists from Germany and directors of the SELEKTION
label, one of the most innovative labels releasing a catalogue
of contemporary sound art from Europe and North America,
contribute both writings and documentation of site-specific
installations along with audio tracks produced specifically for
"Site of Sound". In addition, a site-specific work designed by
Jake Tilson, a digital artist from England, presents a
faux-citation (translated into four languages) for violating
"noise pollution" regulations. "Site of Sound" also includes
valuable documentation of installations by German artist
Christina Kubisch, Danish artist Moniek Darge, and Max
Eastley, an artist and sound-sculptor from England. 

These art works and projects are complemented by theoretical,
diaristic and expository writings by sound artists, audio theorists
and architects. From an insightful interview with Pierre Koenig
discussing his obsession with music and record buying, poetic
meditations by German artist Rolf Julius, Canadian artist and
ecologist Hildegard Westerkamp, and Loren Chasse from San
Francisco, to scientific investigations by the group WrK from
Japan, an obscure group of physicists and artists whose
installations and writings explore the relationship between
physical phenomena, space and sound. 

These writings expand the long debated question of the
relationship between sound and space, and lead one to a
deeper consideration of the everyday occurrence of sound as a
physical and psychological determinant. "Site of Sound"
proposes that music has a social dimension, that it exists in
relation to a listener and further, that this listener affects music
(as well as their environment) through the very act of listening. 

Other contributors include Jalal Toufic, John Hudak, Richard
Lerman, Giancarlo Toniutti, Steve Peters, David Dunn, Leif
Elggren, CM von Hausswolff, Michael Brewster, Christof
Migone, Rupert Loydell, and Tim Robinson.