Reverberations: The Philosophy, Aesthetics and Politics of Noise

Description

Noise permeates our highly mediated and globalised cultures. Noise as art, music, cultural or digital practice is a way of intervening so that it can be harnessed for an aesthetic expression not caught within mainstream styles or distribution. This wide-ranging book examines the concept and practices of noise, treating noise not merely as a sonic phenomenon but as an essential component of all communication and information systems. The book opens with ideas of what noise is, and then works through ideas of how noise works in contemporary media, to conclude by showing potentials within noise for a continuing cultural renovation through experimentation. Considered in this way, noise is seen as an essential yet excluded element of contemporary culture that demands a rigorous engagement. Reverberations brings together a range of perspectives, case studies, critiques and suggestions as to how noise can mobilize thought and cultural activity through a heightening of critical creativity.Written by a strong, international line-up of scholars and artists, Reverberations looks to energize this field of study and initiate debates for years to come.

Dr Michael Goddard is Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Salford. He has published research in media and aesthetic theory, Eastern European film and visual culture and anomalous forms of popular music. Dr Ben Halligan runs the Graduate Programme for the School of Media, Music and Performance at the University of Salford, UK, teaching in the areas of Critical Theory, Media Studies and Performance at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr Halligan is currently involved with the University's move to MediaCityUK, and its new facilities with the BBC.

Michael Goddard, Benjamin Halligan, and Paul Hegarty are three exceptional individuals ... [Reverberations] contains material of interest even to conservative musicologists, although its primary importance lies in its various attempts to theorize noise-and noise both as a category in and of itself, and in terms of its relationships to a great many fields of inquiry and expression ... I recommend Reverberations for its novel insights into aspects of sound we all too often simply despise or dismiss out of hand. -- Michael Saffle, Virginia Tech, USA * Journal of Musicological Research * Reverberations stands as a thoroughgoing map of the overarching philosophical terrain ... constitutes a meaningful contribution to the study of musical aesthetics. [Reverberations and Resonances] are a significant achievement, a comprehensive collection of thinking to date about where noise fits into our cultural lives, pointing forward towards a fertile development of the field. -- Adam Behr, University of Edinburgh, UK * Popular Music * With a fantastic range of topics, the editors have produced a strong collection that extends well beyond sound studies. The collection includes a wide range of writers, and offers just what we need in order to understand contemporary media and aesthetics: theoretical problematisation. Start from noise, with Reverberations, and find brilliant cartographies of noise in aesthetics, the social, and philosophy. -- Dr Jussi Parikka, Reader in Media and Design at Winchester School of Art, author of Digital Contagions and Insect Media