360 Degrees: Women In Sound was held as part of LA4. Inspired by the need to address a perceived gender imbalance within the sound art community, 360 Degrees consisted of two separate exhibitions and a live sound performance, exploring short and long form composition, quadraphonic installation, sound sculpture and the relationship between sound, video and digital media. The curators were Arnya Tehira and Sianna Lee.
360 Degrees featured the work of Ai Yamamoto, Bec Charlesworth, Cat Hope, Cassandra Tytler, Camilla Hannan, Jasmine Guffond, Anne-Marie Kohn, Claire Conroy, Jean Poole, Louise Terry, Jennifer Sochackyj, Geoff Robinson and Sally Blenheim. There's a 360 Degrees video gallery here.
How did 360 Degrees come about?
The idea was to gather and present sound works by women from all over Australia. We want to get women working in sound out there. The research has been done: figures continually demonstrate that there is always a majority of men involved in sound-based projects. We were happy to be able to address this situation, in a way that can only be considered positive: by integrating more women working with sound into Liquid Architecture's program.
Tell me about your philosophy as a sound artist.
I come from the school of sound appreciation: thinking about and appreciating the qualities of sound in the environment I live in. I started getting serious about sound in its technical capacities when I was learning audio engineering. After that, I tried a few different paths before ending up on the artist conveyer belt. I'll always be a student of sound and art – I almost finished my BA in Media Arts at RMIT – but I intend to continue to experiment and work along the path my ideas take me. My philosophy? If the avenue isn't there, pave it.
Describe your working relationship with Sianna Lee.
We were both involved with the formation of the project, the selection of works and the operations of exhibiting. Of course it's always more supportive to be working with another person: managing such a huge project couldn't possibly have been achieved alone. I met Sianna at Media Arts School in a soundtrack class. She graduated last year and has been working hard on her first EP with Andromeda, the group she plays guitar and is the vocalist for. Sianna has been really integral in keeping 360 on the rails. In its early inception, there was the possibility that the project may not have happened due to the 'concept creator', Thembi Soddell, opting to take a back seat role. Thankfully, Sianna continued on and we managed to pull it together.
The soundtrack works were installed in a
cinema-like fashion: state-of-the-art hi
fi, seating and vision projection. It was
probably most accessible for audiences new
to sound art in galleries, considering the
vision component, although they are made
aware of the fact that the sound was predominant.
The idea of sound and vision being a well-considered
proposition, a relationship from the start,
is new ground in many ways. The quadraphonic
works bounced really well around the room,
and as we were compiling them, we quickly
realised how diverse the aesthetics would
be. The set up was very invisible, almost
to point out the fact that sound had created
this void of vision. Each piece worked differently
with the three-dimensional aspect of surround-sound
composition, which is an interesting reference
point for all the possibilities. In both
the soundtrack and quadraphonic exhibitions,
a short-form composition limitation was
placed on the artists – one minute
duration – creating a challenge which
each and every artist took on with complete
grace. What innovative aspects
did the installations embody?
We wanted to portray the diversity
of sound art in the gallery context. I guess
the choice of artists and works helped to
establish this, along with the chosen media.
This is evident in the way that Ros Bandt
used sculpture and her self-made SIPP multichannel
playback system; the way Isobel installed
her complex, yet enjoyable game simply on
the computer; the way the soundtrack room
embodied the cinema; and the way in which
the quad installations re-enacted the surround-sound
effect – which we as an audience are
becoming more aware of through Dolby Digital–enabled
systems. Sound is usually presented in a
very specific way. It's rare that you'll
find this kind of variety under one banner.
We also wanted to provide an immersive experience
for the quadraphonic installation, to envelop
the user in sound with full use of the extra
dimension of surround-sound capabilities.
Is there any unexplored potential to be
discovered in the sound and visual relationship?
How can sound artists unlock this in the
future?
Usually the sound is considered
secondary to the vision, a perfect example
of how people generally see before they
hear. The film industry is getting better,
but it has been known to treat soundtrack
in this way – artists working in both
medias often find this to be the case. Not
only is sound produced after vision, but
the sound is not even considered when creating
the vision – there isn't even the
pre-production plan for it. If artists could
just think ahead, realising that a good
soundtrack will not only enhance their work
but make it truer to their intentions, they
could take a few more measures and please
themselves and the audience that bit more.
