Research: Non-musical sound in Japanese art 1955-1979
In 2019, I began researching Japanese artists' use of non-musical sound from the 1950s-1970s, in the era before "sound art" became a recognized discipline in the art world. During several trips to Japan over the next few years, I met with artists, curators, and writers -- and assisted by marvelous interpreters -- to find out more about this little known field of art-making and sound-making. The artists I've been researching so far are Tanaka Atsuko, Murakami Saburō, Nomura Hitoshi, Hikosaka Naoyoshi, and Imai Norio. On hearing about my research, the editors of the online journal Resonance: The Journal of Sound and Culture (University of California Press) offered to give me two issues in the fall and winter of 2024 to publish my essays, along with new translations of essays by Washida Meruro and Kaneko Tomotaro. My seven essays vary in length and style, although all are written from a distinctly subjective "artist's ear view" focusing on the auditory experience of these works and the layered meanings they offer.