Manipulating Space, Changing Realities: space as primary carrier of meaning in sonic arts

Abstract

Space is an essential element of human experience. In our daily lives we move about in a multi-dimensional sound field, constantly processing spatial cues in our encounters with our surroundings. Awareness of space as a fundamental compo-nent of sound is nevertheless limited among artists and listeners. This paper presents a framework for recognizing, analyzing and working with sonic space, based on identifying and categorizing spatial components from the level of the individual sound, via the combination of sounds in virtual spaces, to the experience of the fusion of composed space and the listening environment.