Exposition

Embodied/Encoded: A Study of Presence in Digital Music (2024)

Robert Seaback

About this exposition

Presence in Embodied/Encoded is concerned with the physical and embodied dimensions of musicking in relation to digital-informational representations of such phenomena. I explore presence through practices of recording, creative coding, audio production, and spatial electronic music composition. Of particular interest is the link between presence and the sensual/corporeal aspects of sound production and listening. Research in embodied music cognition and extended reality provide a foundation for this type of meaning formation. In the context of immersive electronic music, I suggest that physical presence – a sense of ‘being somewhere’—emerges not just from images/representations of place, but from peripheral aspects of the (embodied) acoustic experience such as spatial proximity and distance, diffuseness, resonance and reverberation, noise floor, etc. Consequently, musical meaning in “Embodied/Encoded” moves away from the symbolic dimension of electronic sounds toward meaning as an outcome of embodied interaction with the environment. The concept of presence can also apply to ‘mixed’ music, or combinations of acoustic and electronic sources, in which virtual presence is complicated by real bodies and spaces. Digital technology renders sound a flexible, malleable entity—a ‘flickering’ signifier to borrow from Hayles—capable of reconfiguring presence in creative ways. The dance between encoded and embodied dimensions inspires and informs this artistic research. Through a body of immersive music and multimedia documentation, I unpack connections between presence and its digital abstractions.
typeresearch exposition
keywordspresence, acousmatic music, electroacoustic music, electronic music, ambisonics, electroacoustic composition, embodied cognition, virtual reality
date17/11/2023
published24/09/2024
last modified24/09/2024
statuspublished
share statusshared with registered RC users
affiliationNorwegian Academy of Music
copyright2023
licenseAll rights reserved
languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1397388/2382218
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/nmh-ar.1397388
published inNorwegian Academy of Music
portal issue9. Publications 2024


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