Chanting in the gallery: Ritual sound and its phenomenology in contemporary art

ABSTRACT

Artists Bill Viola, Meredith Monk, Janet Cardiff and Marcus Coates have employed ritualistic singing and chants as tools of critical expression in their practices. What types of experiences do sounds associated with religion and belief systems elicit within the viewers and listeners of the work? Are the causal factors of these experiences implicit in the music or present in the individual listeners? This article draws upon musical phenomenology, neuro-phenomenology, musical time and Heidegger's Dasein in order to formulate an understanding of the role of ritual singing in art, and the ways in which art audiences access transcendental experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• ritual singing
• chanting in contemporary art
• phenomenology
• gallery experience
• musical time