On Listening as Analysis: TheSelfie OrchestraProject

Abstract

Our paper addresses the notion of listening as a method of analysis. Our reflections stem from our development of an interactive sound art piece entitled Selfie Orchestra. This work is produced with sound, image, and GPS data gleaned from audience members’ cell phones. It features an interactive 3D simulation of the La Friche la Belle de Mai district in Marseille, France. We begin with a brief description of this project, highlighting our attempts to provoke expanded forms of listening through the technological innovations at the heart of the work. We then turn to a theoretical examination of listening as a method for reflection and research in the social sciences, with specific reference to Henri Lefebvre’s evocative concept of ‘rhythmanalysis.’ We reflect briefly on John Cage’s work 4’33” (1952) and Max Neuhaus’s Listen (1966) as precedent artworks that make space for attentive listening. We then contrast the open-ended interactivity promoted by these works with the more constrained forms we have been developing with Selfie Orchestra. We conclude with thoughts on how Selfie Orchestra demonstrates the strengths of listening as a method of analysis when the latter is understood following its ancient Greek conception as a form of ‘loosening.’