Practices Of Listening Repercussions Of Sound Silences And Censorship From Postapartheid South Africa Warrick Swinney Warrick Sony by Warrick Swinney. (warrick Sony.) instant download after payment.

Michaelis School of Fine Art

Faculty of Humanities

University of Cape Town

Supervisors:

Dr Kurt Campbell

Ass Prof Svea Josephy

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for

Master in Fine Art degree (MFA)

Abstract

This project is situated in the area of sonic art and explores my personal biography in

relation to sound, silence, censorship and social control. Using the artistic productions of

John Cage, I examine silence as both an object—a recording in a fixed medium—and as a

verb directly addressing the question of censorship of the self and of others. The interplay of

silencing and silence is expressed in my artistic practice which employs, as audio palate, the

silences between the words of significant political speeches from South Africa. As a

consequence of this process I have excised all recognizable words in various aural and

video works leaving only the ‘Cagean’ noise of the silence. I further examine related aspects

of silence and silencing through the metaphor of the mute button—a mechanical silencing

device—which serves both as a creative tool in a recording studio as well as a censorial

device to prohibit voices being heard. The beating, hitting and silences are all set against a

backdrop of (post) apartheid South Africa for the expression of some of my personal and

theoretical realisations.