Words in Sounds: Janet Cardiff
Expanding on the previous notion that words function as an expressive means of transport, I will examine words in their sound form, investigating questions such as how do we pick up on fragments of sound? And what is the importance of context to how we respond to what is being communicated to us? Finding Janet Cardiff’s work extremely interesting, the “sculptural soundscapes” that she creates by mapping a out a world over a pre-existing one raises questions about how we perceive reality through word usage. Though her physical presence is unfelt, her audio presence is nearly tangible. The sounds she attaches to the track in addition to her voice produce a complex overlapping of not only sounds, but meanings through the words she conveys. Depending on the subject’s context, however, these meanings are liable to change. I believe we pick up on fragments of sound through the contextual clues we are faced with. One fragment of sound compared to another fragment can have two completely different connotations; the heard words are contingent on the specific social and historical structures we are surrounded by. Attached is a link from one of Cardiff’s audio soundscapes called “Her Long Black Hair,” in which sounds of the city, the murmur of its people, and Cardiff’s leading voice guides you through a fictitious reality that is at once thrilling and unnerving. Click on the excerpts to experience how words function as expressive meanings of sound and through certain frames of reference.
http://www.cardiffmiller.com/artworks/walks/longhair.html