My name is Victoria Karlsson and I am currently doing a practice based PhD at the University of the Arts, London. This presentation aims to explain what it is I am interested in investigating through the PhD. Currently, the title of my research is "Mapping Experiences of Inner sounds" So, what does that actually mean?
My name is Victoria Karlsson and I am currently doing a practice based PhD at the University of the Arts, London. This presentation aims to explain what it is I am interested in investigating through the PhD. Currently, the title of my research is "Mapping Experiences of Inner sounds" So, what does that actually mean?
I'll start from the beginning - sort of - of why I came to be interested in this subject area. It started a few years ago, when I did an MA in Sound Art at the University of the Arts. That's me by the way, doing my MA. Looking very focused. I started to think about what exactly interested me about sound, as an artistic medium. I realised that it was our subjective, emotional responses and reactions to sounds that interested me, and after I finished the MA, I kept coming back to this, again and again. So, long story short, what I am researching now is 'sounds within our minds and thoughts' - and it's important I make it clear here - I am not talking about an inner voice so much as other sounds.
What is it really that I am trying to find out, then? To try and be as concise and clear as I can, here it is. What are inner sounds? Does everyone hear them? What do they hear?
Can inner sounds be made audible? By that I don't mean can they be made audible in actual space, but can they be made audible to you, in your mind?
Can inner sounds be expressed, shared? Can we find a way to share our experiences of inner sounds, and also what we hear?
One of the more fascinating aspects of this research is that it forces me out of a sound art context and out of my comfort zone - while I draw from and refer to sound artists such as Pauline Oliveros and Peter Cusack, among others, I also find that I have much to learn from artists such as Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Mark Rothko and Susan Hiller. Many of these artists have explored, within their own medium, how to articulate inner experiences, much like I am doing with this research.
Map experiences of inner sounds through qualitative interviews.
What am I aiming to do as a practicing artist with this PhD research, then? Here are a few examples of what I am planning and have committed to produce as part of the PhD. I always knew I would be doing some sort of interviews - but I never understood how important they would become for my practice.