Gabriel Paiuk’s project Mutable Audible investigates how that which is heard – the audible – is formed as inherent to material, collective and technical circumstances. The audible is conceived as... Show moreGabriel Paiuk’s project Mutable Audible investigates how that which is heard – the audible – is formed as inherent to material, collective and technical circumstances. The audible is conceived as not exclusively bound to the private realm of the mind or the will of the individual listener, but as dependent on the diverse operations that inform how a sensorial engagement with sound takes place. To account for the mutable character of the audible, Paiuk postulates a novel concept of sound image built upon the work of the French philosopher Gilbert Simondon. This notion is unhinged from previous uses of the term, namely those that define it as a visual surrogate or a mental representation. Rather, the image is conceived as a node in a cycle of functions that articulate a metastable relationship between sensing agent and milieu. The result of this reconsideration is twofold. On the one hand, the sound image is postulated as a tool to address the audible as a variable locus of engagement with the world. On the other, it unsettles assumptions that keep the image anchored to its traditional visual-centric forms and techniques and drives its transformation to encompass the realm of sound. The variable form in which the audible is produced is explored across four artistic works which constitute the experimental backbone of the dissertation. Show less
In 2013 I had the chance to listen to a performance of Italian composer Luigi Nono’s work No hay caminos . . . a Andrei Tarkowskij (1987), for seven instrumental groups distributed around the... Show moreIn 2013 I had the chance to listen to a performance of Italian composer Luigi Nono’s work No hay caminos . . . a Andrei Tarkowskij (1987), for seven instrumental groups distributed around the audience, at the main hall of the Cité de la Musique, in Paris. I recall being startled about three-quarters through this piece, which lasted approximately twenty-five minutes, by a substantial transformation in the way I experienced some of its sound components. This transformation was not the result of the manipulation of any of the sound elements of the work but of a displacement of my listening focus. It revealed sound as an essentially manifold instance, susceptible of acquiring diverse statuses.In this chapter I would like to use Deleuze’s notion of the “time-image,” developed in his investigation of the role of the image in cinema, to explore what was significant about this experience. Along with this, I sketch a proposal to use the concept of “time-image” as a tool to reassess aspects of how we conceive sound and its role within artistic practices. Show less
