Though Sound Studies is widely recognised as a field of inquiry within the Humanities, certain assumptions about the sonic have in fact, further isolated sound and aural experience.Tunings of the World was a project that rearticulated sonic theory and practice with ‘visual’ disciplines and spaces, offering ‘the installation’ as a locus for critical attunement and interdisciplinarity. We set out to explore how a conceptual model of attunement might be used to situate differing modes of thought, languages and disciplines.
Recent audio-visual installations by leading artists, such as The Otolith Group (Van Abbe 2019), Mikhail Karikis (Tate Liverpool 2020) have challenged their audiences (audiences rather than mere visitors) to attune to the world, addressing global issues of the environment and social justice.
'The Tuning of the World’ as the late writer, artist and environmentalist Murray Schafer might call it. But attunement is also linguistically connected to the idea of Stimmung (Kant, Heidegger, Stockhausen etc.) a German word whose connotations extend from the human voice, to mood, to world harmony.
Tunings' hosted internationally acclaimed artists The Otolith Group and Mikhail Karikis who installed their work in collaboration with academics and technicians, utilising CAVE's special theatre, gallery and workshop spaces. As well as providing high profile exhibitions for the public and national cultural partners, these installations were the stage for postgraduate reading and performance groups as well as five seminars, led by the main participants in collaboration with the invited artist and writers.
