Publication Cover
Sound Studies
An Interdisciplinary Journal
Volume 4, 2018 - Issue 2
305
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Second Sound

Paranoia, from the icon to the ear: a reflection on soundscape, landscape and cityscape

Pages 201-216 | Received 11 May 2018, Accepted 17 Mar 2019, Published online: 15 May 2019
 

ABSTRACT

“Clinging to the remnants of visual space in this new acoustic age has become a kind of a paranoiac state”, Marshall McLuhan wrote to R. Murray Schafer in 1974. In an analysis of twentieth century transformations of spatial concepts and specifically, of 1960s and 1970s ideas of soundscape, this essay tackles the multiplicity and interdisciplinarity of ideas relating to soundscape. The text is accompanied by recordings from an acoustic camera, where the sounds of hands, voice and piano were traced on the walls, floors and ceilings of different spaces, in an attempt to explore the anxiety and relief inherent in images of soundscape.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Viktoria Tkaczyk and the “Epistemes of Modern Acoustics” Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin for hosting me as a visiting scholar in March 2017 and in December 2018, as well as Jeffrey Huang, Anton Rey, Andres Bosshard and Matthias Brechbühl for making possible the acoustic visualization workshop at ZHdK in Zürich in 2015, where this research evolved in the framework of the SNF-funded Sinergia project “Towards an alliance between performing arts and scientific research”.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Marshall McLuhan to R. Murray Schafer, 16 December 1974, Letter reproduced in: Molinaro, McLuhan, and Toye Citation1987, 508.

2. Jonathan Sterne criticises both McLuhan’s model of endless connectivity by means of radio waves and Schafer’s belief in the unmediated authentic of a landscape of soundmarks and keynote sounds.

3. In 1889–1890, Appia worked with “the father of light” Hugo Bähr, from whom he learnt techniques such as carbon-arc devices, projections and other lighting effects, which he would later use in his own theatre designs.

4. Carl Williams in his essay preferred the term “auditory space”, relating to perception rather than to the electro-acoustics. Yet, Williams contribution in the fourth edition of the journal Explorations, was not titled “Auditory Space” but “Acoustic Space” (Williams Citation1955). Disagreements between editors and author went as far as a second publication (Carpenter and McLuhan Citation1960) without mention of William’s name or original contribution (Geiser Citation2010, 323–326).

5. Carpenter’s explorations in the Canadian ice desert were a decisive influence.

6. Translation by the author of “Mit einem McLuhanschen Akzent hieße das: Das Medium ist die Gesellschaft, die Gemeinschaft der Stimmen in der ursprünglichen Sonosphäre ist die message selbst” (Sloterdijk Citation1993, 75).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sabine von Fischer

Sabine von Fischer, architectural historian, architect and writer, is affiliated researcher at ETH in Zürich. Her doctoral thesis in architectural history and theory addresses the nexus of architecture and science in twentieth century architectural acoustics. Her writing has been featured in journals, newspapers and academic editions. She has taught and lectured internationally. The topics of her talks have ranged from sound photography to Lina Bo Bardi’s MASP and repeated exile, and the rhetoric surrounding loudspeaker amplification in the competition for the League of Nations headquarters in Geneva, 1927. The latter is also part of her book “Das akustische Argument. Wissenschaft und Hörerfahrung in der Architektur des 20. Jahrhunderts” (von Fisher Citation2019). In 2018, her essay “A Visual Imprint of Moving Air: Methods, Models, and Media in Architectural Sound Photography, ca. 1930” was awarded the Founders’ JSAH article award.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 105.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.