Noise, Agency, and the Sound of Obsolete Technology

In a recently published collection on materiality in art Petra Lange-Berndt asks, “what does it mean to give agency to the material, to follow the material and to act with the material” (2015:13). My article attempts to consider this question, focusing on the work of a number of musicians and composers who have chosen to engage creatively with the sounds produced by obsolete – or near obsolete – technologies of sound recording and reproduction.Every sound technology has the capacity to generate as well reproduce sound: in the case of the wax cylinder or shellac disc, surface noise is generated by physical contact between the recording medium and the needle/stylus, and with magnetic tape noise is created by the oxides used to make the tape. We might think of these sounds as the sound of technology itself – a sounding of each medium’s material and technological bases. Historically these sounds have usually been treated a problem, and successive waves of technological innovation have been directed at removing or repressing the sound of technology. Thus the move from shellac to vinyl, the development of Dolby noise reduction, and the broader the shift from analogue to digital technology, have all been partly motivated by a desire to silence the medium itself. But what happens if we choose to work with these sounds rather than repress them; and following Lange-Berndt’s prompt, what would this change in attitude mean?My aim in this article is to consider what the political potential of the sound of technology might be, explored through a discussion of works by Walter Ruttmann and John Oswald.The well-established discourses around the political potential of noise in the arts have tended to construct it as a form of attack: as Jacques Attali states, “Noise is a weapon” (1985: 24). But might there be other ways in which we could consider the political dimensions of noise, and if so, how might issues of materiality and agency within play though an alternative approach to the politics of noise?In addressing these questions, my article examines the historical and temporal dynamics at work in the sound of technology. Here I argue that the temporal displacement we witness in the contemporary use of past technologies results in an intensification and re-energisation of the various forms of noise. For the artist working with archive material or obsolete sound recording and playback equipment, temporal displacement of this sort materialises the sound of technology – materializing or rematerialising the sounds with which they work - and in so doing releases forms of potentiality that can be understood in political terms

Imaging and Imagining Taiwan: Identity representation and cultural politics

Since the 1990s the issue of identity has been one of the most prominent and hotly-debated topics in Taiwan Studies. A rich corpus of literature has been produced in various fields in the attempt to address this problematic issue, examining questions of Taiwanese identity from political, social and cultural perspectives. Imaging and Imagining Taiwan takes a fresh approach to this important topic, examining Taiwanese identity from a visual perspective and exploring the ways in which the island is presented and imagined. In contrast to those studies that seek to address the issue of identity from an essentialist position, Imaging and Imagining Taiwan offers a new contextualization of identity, investigating the ways in which Taiwan has been represented in films, fine art, advertising, sport, and social spaces at different periods in history. Covering a diverse range of topics, the book aims to capture the fluidity, changeability, fragmentation and dynamism of Taiwanese identity as an imaginary and encompassing whole. Through seven case studies the book focuses on the ways in which Taiwan is represented, how this relates to identity politics, and how the island is imaged and imagined visually, socially, and symbolically. The essays comprising this collection are grouped into three sections, each of which focuses on a particular approach to the topic of Taiwanese identity. The first of these —Colonial Representation —deals with colonial subjectivity and traumatic experience. The second, entitled Imaging Difference, examines cultural practices in film, TV advertisements and fine art, and explores the boundaries between the inside and the outside, the difference marked by the process of othering, and the anxiety and alienation of the excluded. The third section—Identity and Place—focuses on the relationship between identity and the social construction of place, and examines the role of place-making in the new Taiwanese nation-building process. Interrogating the complex issue of Taiwanese identity from various standpoints, the seven contributors write from a range of disciplinary backgrounds (Literature, History, Film Studies, Linguistics, Anthropology and Cultural Studies) and geographical contexts (Taiwan, Europe and America). This combination of fresh perspectives and a range of disciplinary approaches offers a set of diverse yet complementary insights into how Taiwan has been envisioned and imagined, and how the Taiwanese have positioned and identified themselves at different times. By combining different themes and disciplinary approaches together in one publication, Imaging and Imagining Taiwan brings both nuance and depth to the discussion of the representation of Taiwanese identity. The book articulates and examines the complexity of identity, avoiding essentialist approaches to the topic, instead illustrating identity's multi-faceted nature and dynamic messiness. Thus, the book argues, the politics of identity is not only a politics of representation, but also a politics of positioning, whereby identity is formulated both by the construction of sameness and the inscription of difference. The interdisciplinary approach adopted by this book makes the discussion of Taiwanese identity of interest to those both studying and working in a range of subject disciplines, not limited to Taiwan Studies, but also in History, Film, Linguistics, Literary Studies, Nationalism Studies, and Urban Studies

Listen to Nice

In describing Humphrey Jennings’ wartime documentary propaganda film, 'Listen to Britain' (1942), a film with an overtly poetic sensibility and dominantly musical soundtrack, John Corner asserts that ‘through listening to Britain, we are enabled to properly look at it'. This idea of sound leading our attention to the images has underpinned much of the collaborative work between composer and sound designer, Geoffrey Cox, and documentary filmmaker, Keith Marley. It is in this context that the article will analyse an extract of A Film About Nice (Marley and Cox 2010), a contemporary re-imagining of Jean Vigo’s silent documentary, 'A propos de Nice' (1930). Reference will be made throughout to the historical context, and the filmic and theoretical influences that have informed the way music and creative sound design have been used to place emphasis on hearing a place, as much as seeing it

Sonic diegesis: reality and the expressive potential of sound in narrative film

Perspectives and approaches from electroacoustic music are applied to support a phenomenological understanding of the role of sound in film, whereby all sounds are presented as potential drivers of cinematic diegesis. Building upon notions of the non-diegetic fallacy (Winters 2010, Kassabian 2008) and extending these concepts from film music into an examination of all sound, conventional classifications of sound into binary (diegetic / non-diegetic) and tripartite (Voice / Music / Sound Effects) divisions are challenged. Such divisions are argued as limiting to an understanding of the full expressive potentials of sound, failing to reflect the filmic experience, by assigning limited functional roles to specific types of sound. Notions of “reality” are core to this exposition, with existing analytical distinctions operating in relation to an assumed objective reality, a transparent mimesis, which fails to take into consideration the subjectivity of the audience nor the diegetic potential of mimetic sounds. However, with reference to specific examples drawn from mainstream cinema – Gravity [2013], Dunkirk [2017] – and creative practice research ¬– coccolith [2016] – the expressive potential of sound is demonstrated to be embodied by all sound types, with the apparent realism of mimetic sounds belying their significant diegetic power. Indeed, the illusory realism of mimetic sounds is argued as core to their communicative action and affect, extending audiences’ own experiences of sonic phenomena. Approaches to the analysis of sound within narrative film contexts are demonstrated and posited as affording deeper and more nuanced readings of the role of all sound in the construction of filmic diegesis

Building the supply chain to enable business alignment : lessons from British American Tobacco (BAT)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on experiences from BAT's major supply chain reconfiguration program; it details practices, lessons learnt and do's and do nots. There is little research that reports on how to manage major supply chain reconfiguration programs, despite the fact that it is widely acknowledged that this can be challenging. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reports insights from industry, directly captured from the responsible managers in workshops and through co-author involvement. Findings: Seven key lessons are shared, including how to use S&OP, measurement and other specific change management tactics and practices. Practical implications: The findings reported in this paper are “straight from the horses mouth” and are very much informed by all the experience developed inside BAT. Coupled with the focus on overall lessons, the findings will be useful for many other supply chain executives engaged in major reconfigurations. Originality/value: This paper provieds an insight into a major supply chain design project in BAT over a six year period. This included access to senior decision makers and those actually running the change program. Case studies of this scale, scope and longitude are a rarity in supply chain strategy

Changing chains : three case studies of the change management needed to reconfigure European supply chains

Purpose: Many supply chain reconfiguration programs are launched each year. Despite a wealth of knowledge existing in the general management domain, there has been little work within the supply chain management domain on change. That which does exist deals with change to a technical – as opposed to non-technical – system. This leaves out many of the social and behavioral aspects of change. This paper aims to address this gap. Design/methodology/approach: The paper synthesized the general management and supply chain literature on change to create a framework to explore change within three supply chains. A multiple case study approach was adopted for the research. Longitudinal and quasi-longitudinal data were gathered and template analysis utilized to explore the cases contexts and the design choices they made in each of the change programmes. Findings: In all three cases, the change is non-linear and required re-planning and learning throughout the change effort to build the capacity and capability for change. In all three cases, the success of the change is facilitated through the use of cross-functional teams. Originality/value: Change leaders were involved in the research through co-authorship and a unique set of cross-case lessons learned were generated. The framework used in the analysis incorporates considerations previously ignored in the supply chain literature, including the non-linear, non-processual nature of change