Written Proposal

The concept for my sound journey is about an everyday life’s situation, which is the event of waking up from a peaceful sleep and then traveling to a chaotic city. I plan to start from a low volume as the character is sleeping and gradually increase the sound as the character wakes up and starts preparing to go to work. The peak of this sound journey would be when the character finally arrives in the city in the midst of the traffic and the crowd, then the sound would fade out.

I have already gotten a few sounds that I would need and this is the list of sounds that would be played in order:

Silence
Alarm clock
yawning
stepping into the shower
shower
drinking coffee
old car engine starting
more cars
honks
people talking and walking hurriedly plus more cars and honks

The reason that I chose this concept is because it is a common situation that many people could relate to, but may have never given much thought about. I enjoy highlighting things that seem normal, turning them into something interesting and fun. I am still open to new ideas that may come along my way, and wouldn’t mind adding or changing the order of events that I planned.

Reponse to Sound Art

Gregory Whitehead - various
Actually, I was surprised to find out out that each file was a bit of a variety of different kinds of sounds. I thought that they would be songs, but surprisingly, I enjoyed the sounds I found from this sound post. This website offered a huge choice all the way from human noises, natural sounds, and even subways. I think that this particular website would be very useful for my audio homework. Also the title of each sound is very clear in describing what one should expect to hear. I don't really have a favorite sound file, but so far, this is my favorite website for sound source.

Response to Article

I find that the concept of detournement, which is about using or/and combining existing artwork to create a new piece of art, has its pros and cons. On the pros side, artists have the liberty to use and combine existing art works. By connecting materials from the world of reality in a fictional setting, artists discover a new way to turn their dull or uninteresting objects into something fresh and even original. I especially loved the way that Lavier superimposed a refrigerator onto an armchair. When two pieces of furniture which have nothing in common, are put together, they strongly clash, but they also reveal the artist’s creativity, and in Lavier's Brandt on Rue de Passy, to me, is quite humorous.

On the cons side, it may be unfair for artists whose works are copied by another artist with the purpose of creating a new meaning and even opposing the original meaning. This could devalorize the original artwork, which, I think, is not a pleasant thing.

This wave of contemporary art is a new thing to me. I have never heard of it and I am glad that I was introduced to it. In my opinion, whether detournement is used with or without the original artwork’s meaning, detournement should be encouraged and more explored as long as it is used in a non-offensive way. I believe that we need to be open-minded and always have extra rooms for new ideas.

Some of Lavier's artwork

Some of Lavier's work

We work for money not art

1st presentation music from the heart