Audities of the Eye: an investigation into the perceptual relationships of the sonic, the visual, space and movement. / Tara Simmonds (2021)

This thesis investigates the enrichment of choreographic practice through the exploration of sound and listening, interwoven with the visual aspects of performance. By means of interdisciplinary practice research I discuss how sound and listening can function through a choreographic lens and methodology to investigate the relationship between the visual and the sonic. Using this lens, the project draws from a range of disciplines, negotiating disciplinary territory that includes choreography, sound practice and perception.

After firstly establishing and defining key theoretical concerns within sound, the act of listening, the hierarchy of the senses and the everyday, these notions are then examined through the practical investigation, particularly in that of the sonic effects ‘synchresis’ (Chion, 1994), ‘localisation’ (Augoyard & Torgue, 2005) and ‘sourcebonding’ (Smalley, 1997). In doing so I bring into question the integrity of vision in our perceptual experience, in order to incite a shift away from visual aesthetics and towards the sonic within choreographic practice. The written document then moves to discuss and analyse the creation and execution of the final sonic installation performance in reference to these fundamental concepts and the choices made in duration, repetition and the agency of the audience.

The research that contextualises this written document highlights the impacts of the aural world not just explicitly in choreographic practice but implicitly in everyday life; recognising the need for sound (particularly that of spatial sound) to be better considered in choreographic practice, but also in the acknowledgement of the constant shifting soundscapes that we find ourselves situated within on a day-to-day basis, negotiating the world through our connection to the sonic. This has in turn led to an approach to contemporary performance that is driven by the sonic and unfolded by means of spatial movement.