Witnessing Space

• Main Author: Polli, Andrea
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2021
• Subjects: Hildegard; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190274054.013.1; https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/35433/chapter/303233486

Abstract Significant advances in scientific understanding in the twentieth century pointed to a convergence of time and space, known as SpaceTime. Related scientific discoveries related to the nature of the cosmos invoked sound not only metaphorically but quite literally. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity changed the position of an observer from neutral to active. This position is consistent with an embodied experience of sound. Simultaneous to these scientific advances, developments in recording and production technologies gave artists the tools to explore sound in space, and to create in the intersectional spaces between art, geography, astronomy, and other sciences. In addition R. Murray Schafer, Hildegard Westerkamp, and others created a contemporary sound art movement that highlights the presence of the listener as inextricable to a soundscape experience. Many sound artists have created compelling immersive experiences for listeners through the audification and sonification of spatial data. Such works raise important questions: if sonic experience of space is embodied, how can space be understood through sound, especially that which is scaled much larger or smaller or of a duration much shorter or longer than that which we can experience with our bodies? How do affect, mood, and emotion influence our embodied understanding of sound in space? In this introductory chapter to this volume’s section on space and sound art, the author’s embodied experiences and interactions with scientists in Antarctica will serve as a background to a personal meditation on sound and space on a human, cosmic, and micro-cosmic scale.