Sound and Video Art

Stop Look Listen. The exhibit currently residing in the Haggerty Museum on the campus of Marquette University, is a compilation of works from some of today's prominent video artists. The exhibit consists of many different works that utilize elements of sound to amplify and bring further meaning into the pieces. Aaron Zimm (field recording artist) described sound art as sound that is working to achieve a higher level of meaning and provide more than just the level of comfort and recognizability that come from familiar sounds and universal musical structures. Sound art is demonstrating something. Something more. The sound, or lack there of, that is used in conjunction with images in the pieces by Patty Chang and Johanna Billing work in ways that both enhance the meaning of the work and inspire different avenues of expanded thought, both in and outside the pieces.
In Patty Chang's The Fountain, she uses sound to enhance the feelings of danger and claustrophobia. For her piece, she laid a mirror covered with a thin layer of water horizontally on the floor. She then positioned herself over it and proceed to slurp and gulp at the pool. The camera and framing show only her bare shoulders, face/head, and part of the water covered mirror. Throughout the piece the camera remains in this close stationary shot, without variation. The viewer is then drawn in and made to feel caught in this realm. It is as if they are gulping the water which creates feelings of claustrophobia in the audience. The only audio the viewer is hearing in the piece is the sounds that Chang is making; this includes the smacking of lips, the gulping of the water etc. There is no music or outside sounds layered. Having this as the audio intensifies the feelings of claustrophobia. Only the sounds of Chang herself can be heard which further connects the viewer with her form. There is no background music or other dialog to focus or to direct the viewers thoughts. You are brought into this world without any sound to help guide you away from Chang's actions. This piece is set up with headphones. Headphones add to the claustrophobia as they do their best to encompass your head and block sounds that may be occurring outside the work.
On the piece by Johanna Billings...
In the article by Zimm, he mentions that music and its identifiable nature can be used to create a a garden path. It can draw in and audience and lead them to discover other more complex aspects. Billing uses the pop song Magical World (also the title of her work) as a garden path, an easy entry, into her piece. In the film the song is being sung and preformed by a group of children in Croatia. They are singing in English, but English is not the children's first language. As with Chang's works, the sounds we hear in the piece are diagetic, but they are musical as opposed to plain human. Listening to this American pop song sung by the innocent faces of children gives an immediate sense of familiarity making the viewer initially engaged in the piece. Once they are effectively engaged they then begin to realize deeper dimensions in the film utilizing the garden path effect. They will be able to ask themselves questions about these children's lives, the state of their country and innumerable other aspects . This normal American pop song is transformed. It is recontextualized and leads to many thoughts that the song itself could not have brought. Billing's ability to change the feeling and meaning that this familiar song brings moves her work from simple sound or video into video art. She successfully combines music and video into a more high art form.
By defining what sound and art and music means to him, Aaron Zimm touched on what it means to make a higher level of art, that is to say art that appreciated by a certain well versed audience When looking at the way Zimm outlines his theories it seems apparent why these works by Patty Chang and Johanna Billing were chosen to be displayed in a museum, which is traditionally a more high art arena. Both The Fountain and Magical World are working on complex levels that engage the viewer raising questions and physical visceral reactions They do this not only through their images, but also through sound; sound as an integral part in their being and creation of meaning.