Sonic Sport: Sound Art in Leisure Research

Abstract

Starting from the premise that sound is an important aspect of leisure experience neglected within existing research, this article presents a discussion of a creative project to explore ways of encouraging sensitivity to sound in televised sport. We discuss a short film, Super cfc, in which sound and image samples of televised soccer were electronically manipulated and recombined resulting in the de-familiarization of conventionalized audio-visual interactions. The article explores the ways that creative practice can destabilize dominant discourses in televised sport and opening up ways for audiences to become attuned to the capacity of sound to enrich and shape leisure activities.

[Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Leisure Sciences for the following free supplementary resources: three sound files corresponding to the three movements from Super cfc. This soundtrack may be used in “forced marriage” experiments with image sequences from televised sports events.]

Keywords:

• television
• football
• media
• audio-visual

Notes

¹The words and music of Jerusalem can be accessed at http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/j/e/r/jerusalem.htm.

²Granular resynthesis is a term used for the reduction of sound to its smallest particles or “grains,” which are then stretched, compressed and re-ordered by software samplers.

³The authors would like to encourage readers to access the MP3 files of the audio sequences from Super cfc and use them in “forced marriage” experiments, using Super cfc's soundtrack to replace existing soundtracks of televised sport. If you require further information about the film please contact the authors at [email protected]

⁴Coldcut's videos can be viewed at http://www.ninjatune.net/videos/