About

Sound Art Brighton: Chris Sciacca - Integrated Soundscape (2021)

Integrated Soundscapes: Brighton is a series of location recordings, that highlights pairs of opposites in the sound environment, accompanied by photographic montages.

Based on the terminology developed by Bernie Krause and Stuart Gage, the work synthesizes the spheres of sound that make up the unified field of the sonic environment: biophony, geophony and anthrophony and is inspired by Walter Benjamin's enigmatic concept of the ‘dialectical image’, from The Arcades Project manuscripts (1934). Through the juxtaposition, montage and superimposition of sound sources, the work proposes a surrealistic, multivalent perspective of space and place. In addition, each composition combines multiple points of audition between two or more locations, creating a simultaneous and duplicitous image of place. Each piece is centred on one or more preconceived oppositional tensions, which are determined by the artist. These include temporal categorizations – such as day vs. night, and conceptual oppositions, such as noise vs. music - or, more metaphorically, in the contrast between polarized human responses to the Covid 19 pandemic. Within each soundscape, additional tensions may be explored within the physicality and spatialization of the sounds themselves, these relationships then becoming inextricably linked into an inseparable whole. These imagined landscapes of sound form a dream image interpretation of the world manifested through the raw materiality of sound. Akin to the art critic John Berger’s analysis of landscape as a way of seeing, Integrated Soundscapes aims to present soundscape beyond its mechanical representation as a way of hearing.

Chris Sciacca Biography

Chris Sciacca is an American sound artist and practice-based researcher specializing in sonic ethnography and soundscape composition. His recordings have been featured on NTS Radio’s Field Recording: Infinite Mixtape series and Resonance Extra, and exhibited at the Fort Process Festival in Newhaven, UK. His works explore the theme of space, place, and cultural identity through immersive and detailed location recordings. His current research explores Walter Benjamin’s concept, the “dialectical image” as it relates to digital sound recordings. His past research has investigated sound’s role in fostering authenticity in documentary cinema.