“Every manifestation of our life is accompanied by noise. The noise, therefore, is familiar to our ear, and has the power to conjure up life itself.” (Russolo, 1986, 1913)
Today almost every manifestation of our life is accompanied by some form of digital communication. Surveillance and security systems track our physical movements, electronic funds transfers, telephone, email, SMS, web surfing, and wireless networking are the digital noise of daily life.
This noise is either ‘tuned out’ or not considered at all as we go about our business and focus on the ‘content’ of the mediation or the ‘outcome’ of the transaction. In the construction and presentation of digital media, however, the line between content and background operations, structure and processes is often completely dissolved.
To both analyse and construct digital works we must appreciate the ways in which these ‘background noises’ function.
The genre of ‘alternate reality’ or ‘mixed reality’ gaming has powerfully shown us how our everyday digital signals may be tracked, manipulated and synthesised by new media works to conjure up alternate, ‘artificial’ life - unfiction.
“Although it is characteristic of noise to recall us brutally to real life, the art of noise must not limit itself to imitative reproduction. It will achieve its most emotive power in the acoustic enjoyment, in its own right, that the artist’s inspiration will extract from combined noises.” (Russolo, 1986, 1913)
While the creation or recreation of a large scale alternate reality is not the aim of my work, I believe that this genre gives us a great example of what is possible when the complete spectrum of ‘digital noises’ is embraced and its various manifestations combined. Artists such as Jonah Brucker-Cohen show us how digital ‘background noise’ such as network traffic and everyday mouse movements may be appropriated to create interesting new works.
Russolo, L. (1986, 1913). The Art of Noises: Futurist Manifesto. The Art of Noises: Monographs In Musicology No. 6. New York, Pendragon Press.
Links:
Luigi Russolo: The Art of Noises
Russolo, L. (1986). The Art of Noises: Futurist Manifesto. The Art of Noises: Monographs In Musicology No. 6. New York, Pendragon Press.
Jonah Brucker-Cohen: coin-operated.com
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