Welcome to episode 6 of the Anechoic Chamber, free form audio from the glowing margins of arts and culture. Our guest for this edition is Barbara Ellison, a composer and sonic researcher whose deep explorations into what she calls "phantasmatic" sound reveal a world in which aesthetic experience becomes an active, rather than passive process, and in which our human propensity for seeking meaning in the apparently meaningless is manifested in a variety of fascinating ways. In her new book Sonic Phantoms - co-authored by yours truly, and out now on Bloomsbury's 'Sound Studies' series - Ellison unveils a previously hidden world in which musical instrument practice, technological experimentation, world travel and immersion in nature all point back towards this propensity and suggest it as being the spark for a staggering amount of human creativity. The following discussion, along with compositional examples provided by Barbara, only begin to scratch the surface of this involving subject. Topics under discussion: tricksters, "gods of the in-between" and shamans / tricks of the mind in bistable imagery, Gestalt psychology, expectations priming perception and experience, the brain as a "predictive machine" and "top-down" perceptive models / the phenomenon of sine wave speech and the apophenic mind / semantic satiation and semantization / EVP, OVP and pareidolia / katajjaq vocal game of the Inuit / acoustic niche theory in natural environments, and its effect on human musical composition All compositions used in this episode by Barbara Ellison 2009-2019 artist web links: www.barbaraellison.com https://barbaraellison.bandcamp.com/ www.sonicphantoms.com Anechoic Chamber links: donate via Paypal: tbwb@protonmail.com general queries: core@tbwb.net
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Anechoic Chamber episode 6: Barbara Ellison
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Anechoic Chamber episode 6: Barbara Ellison
Aug 01, 2020
Anechoic Chamber
Anechoic Chamber focuses on experimental or under-represented forms of creativity, presented in an unfiltered manner and in an "audio documentary" style that diverges from the typical interview format of such shows.
Anechoic Chamber focuses on experimental or under-represented forms of creativity, presented in an unfiltered manner and in an "audio documentary" style that diverges from the typical interview format of such shows.Listen on
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Anechoic Chamber episode 6: Barbara Ellison