ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of sound and the voice specific to early works of mobile media art. From the early recorded soundscapes of Canadian sound artist Barry Truax to the complex sound-based multimedia walks of British artist Janet Cardiff, the chapter outlines early trends that established a path for the way sound is engaged in mobile media art today. The key traditions of mobile sound art are established not only around the locative and public aspects of works, but also the way sound is engaged artistically and conceptually in respect to the mobility of the works. The early multiple mobile phone experiments of Golan Levin in works such as the 2001 Dialtones (A Telesymphony) have led to the other types of mobile connectivity such as GPS audio tracking in projects such as UK sound artist Kaffe Mathew’s ongoing Sonic Bike project. Mobile technologies have created new ways to expand our understanding of sound in urban public spaces and the natural environment, through the use of internet connectivity, compact data storage, as well as access to high quality recording and playback equipment. Yet it is not only electronic technologies that have changed the way we become mobile—an ever-developing understanding of our bodies has seen art embedded and shared between us in ways only hinted at in early works, for example, contemporary works where Wi-Fi and audio-frequency identification chips embedded under the skin are used to control sound. The burgeoning area of sound studies has shifted our understanding of sound as artwork, and this chapter discusses the way this is facilitated and highlighted through mobile media art practice.
