[ISEA98] Panel: John Potts – Revolution Sounds Like…

Panel Statement

Panel: Sound Government Always Leads to Revolution

Cultural hierarchies, including the hierarchy of the senses, are never static; as new media evolve this hierarchy of the senses also changes. What may appear revolutionary in the short term takes its place in the broader perspective as part of a cultural evolution. This is reflected in the transition from an oral culture to a literate one, from a literate culture to a mass media society, and from the electronic world of mass media to the more interactive process of digital multimedia. These general transitions may themselves take a revolutionary – in the sense of revolving – turn. Different media represent the world by different means, placing emphasis on a particular sense at the expense of others; we can expect that the emerging new media technologies will inflect the human sensorium in a new way – or, perhaps, in a way that comes closer to previous configurations. This presentation includes discussion of innovative electronic artworks by Knowbotic Research and Audiorom, as examples of new media art which privilege the role of sound.

  • John Potts, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.