Editorial: On Phonosophy

Editorial: On Phonosophy In proposing this hypothetical binary of phonosophy, Where we currently find ourselves in that by combining sound (phonos) and wisdom (sophia), we Heraclitian stream seems rather crucial at this point aim to explore the potential of the term – and its in history, and thus requires some serious reflection aligned sophic. Skolimowski (1981) in his short on our field’s approach to sonic automation, machinic original treatise called Eco-philosophy said that mimicry and sonic communication. Jean Luc Nancy ‘Logos is a very subtle and all-pervading form of and Henri Bergson take centre stage in this article. praxis’ (viii), which is how we imagine a life of phono- Next, Hubert Gendron-Blais resonates on the sophy must be lived. In light of the effectiveness of music thinking process in the unfolding of his piece wisdom being applied in the realm of Logos (philoso- Résonances manifestes. Considered here is the pro- phy), what would the effect of wisdom be when found epistemological shift from the perspective of coupled with Phonos? Goethe indicated that ‘poetry power and the social to the deeper processes of lived points to the riddles of nature and tries to solve them experience. There is also the recognition of mutuality by means of the image. Philosophy directs itself to the in the manifestation of sense and concept in the riddles of reason and attempts to solve them by means process of sonic thinking. This article looks at the of the word. Mysticism considers riddles of both inherent processes involved in the ecology of the sonic nature and reason and seeks to solve them through event itself, a process that is outlined with reference to both word and image’ (as cited in Allen 1978). Whitehead, Deleuze and Guattari, and Manning. What ‘riddles’ do phonosophers attempt to solve? In Gendron-Blais’s article signals a clear convergence the following articles, we explore the dynamics of a and turning point in the field of electroacoustic music mutually informed organisation of sonic nature and towards a conception of phonosophical inquiry. sense via a practice of resonant sentience. Adel-Jing Wang provides a view that has been The papers responding to this call come from sought over the last several decades in terms of different walks and countries: from China, Chile, a coherent epistemological bridge between East North America, Australasia and the EU. At the time and West cultural practices in the field of artistic/ of our first call-for-papers On Phonosophy, people technological creation. What coheres is how Shanshui- were in the habit of gathering physically to listen to thought in experimental music practices in China and music in groups taking the form of what were once new phonosophical perspectives come together in this called ‘concerts’ and ‘dance parties’. However, at issue in such a seamless manner. From her abstract: the time of the release of this issue, due to a pandemic, ‘Shanshui-thought cultivates an existential gesture musicians and audiences only connect with each other of following rather than obeying or conquering; it from their homes over the internet. The world has requires tacit resonance rather than object knowing.’ gone through some significant changes over the time Wang introduces essential concepts from the Chinese period of writing and reviewing these papers and we scholarly and artistic tradition of Shanshui-thought, need to reflect more than ever now on how electronic such as dan, you, yinyun and huwei tuotai that and networked music go forth to get this world reso- followers of Cage and Varese will directly relate to. nating again. We hope this issue can be a new sensible In the light (or sounds) of contemporary Chinese start down the long and wising sonic road ahead. and Western soundscape practices through the inves- The first paper, ‘On Phonosophy’ by Ken Fields, tigation of the ancient tradition of Chinese landscape most directly addresses the theme and serves as a painting, one will easily recognize emerging and good first-shot introduction to phonosophy. What is complementary cultural seeds that most assuredly will discovered is that modernism is not, strictly speaking, flourish in the new space of the term phonosophy. a recent dynamic, but a long process of the becoming Susan Frykberg dares address the elephant not in of Logos – albeit one that crosses a critical threshold the room of academia: spirituality. She references a and accelerates after the time of the Renaissance. number of renowned composers in the context of elec- However, the Logos does not exist in a pure determin- troacoustic music who do draw on spiritual or istic state, free from the affect of a resonant sensorium, religious material in their work, but notes the very nor disconnected from an energetic temporal flux. problematic aura that surround the words and this Organised Sound 25(3): 271–273 © Cambridge University Press, 2020. doi:10.1017/S1355771820000217 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Western Carolina University, on 04 Dec 2020 at 15:32:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771820000217  272 Ken Fields, Marc Battier, Paul Rudy and Tyler Kinnear discussion. Her solution is to bring in Robert Emmons movement of expression will result in the graphic theory of spiritual intelligence (SI). She organises vernacularisation of Classical Western Art notation. the discussion around three categories: traditional Chilean composer Alejandro Albornoz applies the approaches – which refers to those works which refer- aesthetic theories of his predecessor, Chilean poet ence sacred texts; experimental – which refers to the Vicente Huidobro, to electroacoustic music composi- idea that experimentation with sound is inherently a tion. Huidobro’s work paralleled art movements of sacred exploration; and ancient ways of knowing – the early twentieth century, including dadaism, works that reference ancient scriptures or traditions. surrealism and futurism, conceiving of his artistic Jiayue Wu approaches her work ‘From Physical to system as a way to create machinic or autonomous Spiritual: Defining the Practice of Embodied Sonic artistic organisms. Following Huidobro’s theory of Meditation’ in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. ‘creacionismo’, Albornoz’s artistic strategy strives to In the context of electroacoustic, academic musical balance intuition and rationality in placing ‘poetry practice, she frames her approach as a hybrid inquiry and voice as a driving force in the compositional between her own meditational practice, digital music process, using semantic and phonemic juxtaposition interface design, and human-centred design principles. which aim at the creation of altered states or This is backed by theories in neurological research, superconsciousness’. Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow theory and embodied mind Thembi Soddell seeks in the gap of the acousmatic concepts in the tradition of Fransisco Varela, experience (to refer or not to refer) to exploit and George Lakoff and Marc Leman. She provides a short explore that ambivalence in order to understand states critique of Tibetan cultural influences in pieces by of psychological anxiety and distress. The gap acts Zhang Xiaofu and Pierre Henri that helps the like a sonic metaphor, likening the drawing or uninitiated reader to distinguish between the different severing of connections between abstract concepts approaches in making use of (appropriating) and concrete experience to the same operation with abstract and concrete sounds; in effect, likening religious cultural material – such as that referred to reduced listening to reduced (dissociated) living, which in Frykberg’s article. is a way to understand mental illness itself. In his In his short article ‘Swamp, Sound and Sign’, along article ‘The Acousmatic Gap as a Flexile Path to with the composition it frames, William Bertrand pho- Self-Understanding: A case for experiential listening’, nosophises on interspecies difference in compositional Soddell extends the theories and therapies based practices. The idea of sonic thinking and knowing around experientialism to the listening experience. flows from the previous articles and enters the dense Vadim Keylin treats the politics of sound art from conceptual bogs in a chorus of sonic signs and icons the stance of postcritical listening. His radical empiri- that, as Bertrand states, can serve as a non-dualistic cist, autoethnograhic accounts of several works of bridge between human and animal differences. As sound art shows how critical analysis as ‘detached he argues, ‘spanning this difference is in some respects from the lived experience leaves behind a wealth of a characteristically sonic or artistic act, and that meanings’. His framework pivots around the concept this knowing, decentred subject-object is a sonic or of affordance, specifically as applied in three ways: imagistic knowing and leaping – be it an act of how the participant makes sense, how participants listening, composition, or thought.’ can use the work outside of aesthetic experience and Sam McAuliffe interviews Cat Hope, finding a par- how access to participation is carried out. These as ticular wisdom in her approach to digital scoring a whole point towards a relationality between the which ‘attempts to address issues of hierarchy and ‘materiality of the artwork and the individual listener’s segregation that arise with respect to the somewhat sensorium [that] opens up the field of political alienating character of Western notation’. Hope is possibilities’. known for her screen-based scrolling scores that Mo Zareei simply presents the noise object itself as may contain embedded sound files which can then an elegant dance of the minimalistic beauty of electro- be controlled and shared over networks. Continuing mechanical devices and their sounds. This provides the the graphic music tradition of Xenakis and Ligeti, opportunity to discuss audiovisual materialism in a she brings in the full range of affordances that new completely literal sense in counterbalance to the interactive graphic technologies bring to the tablet. currently parallel discussions of signal-centric As alphabets, writing and the printing press have realism/materialism. The author strives for a balanced shown, innovation in representation is not a trivial aesthetic of sculptural and sonic properties, with issue of translation. The hope of Hope is that a great emphasis on their co-present affect. Zareei’s piece, Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Western Carolina University, on 04 Dec 2020 at 15:32:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771820000217  Editorial 273 Material Music, demonstrates his approach to sound- Paul Rudy based art. (rudyp@umkc.edu) On Phonosophy begins to build a literature and methodology around the term. Let’s be motivated Tyler Kinnear by the possibility that our own discipline has played (tkinnearsound@gmail.com) a part in ecological destruction, diminished humanity and displaced species (sonic colonialism). Ken Fields REFERENCES (kenfields@ucsb.edu) Allen, P. M. 1978. Introduction. In Vladimir Soloviev, Russian Mystic. Great Barrington, MA: Steinerbooks. Marc Battier Skolimowski, H. 1981. Eco-Philosophy: Designing New (marc.battier@paris4.sorbonne.fr) Tactics for Living. Boston: Marion Boyars. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Western Carolina University, on 04 Dec 2020 at 15:32:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771820000217