Beyond Sound and Listening: Urban Sound Installations and Perception

Abstract

In different ways, works of art conceived for specific places lead us to consider the audience’s presence, or in a wider sense, the presence of the individual, within the space of the work. This chapter analyses sound installations in urban environments using a historical and multidisciplinary approach and focusing on their reception by the “city-citizen” (a term that recognizes the reciprocal influence of the dynamic space of the city and its urban inhabitants). When site-specific artworks include sound as a material, they also incorporate or reinforce ideas of temporality, simultaneity, and dynamism and these same qualities are inherent to the modern city. Drawing on 1960s research by urban planner Kevin Lynch, the chapter deals with the impact of urban sound installations by Max Neuhaus, Bernard Leitner, Bill Fontana, and Bruce Nauman. All these artists create works that, by immersing the citizen in sound, change and enrich his or her perception of the city.