Panel Statement

This panel will present a series of position papers designed to identify a vital mix of current theoretical íssues in sound-art. We shall examine the implications of sound oriented design for computer objects and the resonances of the new materialities of digital space – Get physical as we contemplate computers as organs of digestion and excretion, transmission and emission – Listen up to the ‘evolutionary’ relationship between sound, image, tactility in the age of multi media and get in touch with the very physical (and psychological) relationships established between Sound, the Body, Memory, History and Architecture.

The papers will be followed by a combined panel and audience discussion structured around a series of highlighted topics, bring your own ear plugs.

Nigel Helyer will also present a poster session concerned with the potential relationships of sound-art to ideology and politics. The poster entitled Metamorphoses in the Silent Forest will focus on two recent complex sound-installations which use metaphors of silence and silencing in the natural environment as a means to illuminate the politics of colonial expansion.

• Dr. Nigel Helyer (Australia), Convenor, Senior Lecturer at the Sculpture, Performance and Installation Studio, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney