Noise or silence: who decides?

[MrGongGong]

But surely mainly for the DoG and not for the First Symphony?...

I have a special "Oratorio" set (not just for Elgar though...... Elijah needs the same treatment IMV)

[ahinton]

I have a special "Oratorio" set (not just for Elgar though...... Elijah needs the same treatment IMV)

Don't get me on Elijah! It makes me want to rush away and wash my unplugged ears out by listening to - its composer's final string quartet...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When one is on sticky ground in an argument, one sometimes diverts to something else.

[ahinton]

When one is on sticky ground in an argument, one sometimes diverts to something else.

But hopefully not Elijah!...

[MrGongGong]

When one is on sticky ground in an argument, one sometimes diverts to something else.

Like posting pictures of cutting tools ?

[french frank]

Again, whether it's done well or not is another matter entirely.

So - new question: who decides whether it's done well or not?

[MrGongGong]

So - new question: who decides whether it's done well or not?

That's a good question
I would suggest that maybe people who don't like any sounds played in public over loudspeakers maybe aren't the best to judge
Personally i've had experiences of loving sound design some times and hating it at others
BUT what is important to realise that deciding to have "nothing" is as much a decision about the kinds of sounds that will accompany as deciding to commission someone to make something. Sometimes having a designed sound can be a way of shutting people up and slowing them down to be able to notice things in different ways OR to make connections.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

So, like Muzak, it's about manipulation of the general public.

[MrGongGong]

So, like Muzak, it's about manipulation of the general public.

You mean like
Music, Painting, Sculpture, Film, Dance, Installation and Poetry

Or more like DoG (but I don't buy that one)

Why do you try to make sonic art only exist in your own narrow set of contexts?

[Jonathan]

To return to the title of this thread, I guess the answer might be "whoever shouts the loudest"

[jean]

BUT what is important to realise that deciding to have "nothing" is as much a decision about the kinds of sounds that will accompany as deciding to commission someone to make something.

Until very recently, the default position for the sort of exhibition we are talking about was not to accompany it with specially commissioned 'ambient sound'.

It is still the default position for exhibitions at the National Gallery, the Tate, he Royal Academy, any other gallery I can think of. To introduce such a radical change to the way works of art for visual appreciation are presented needs to be argued for, not simply imposed.

Sometimes having a designed sound can be a way of shutting people up and slowing them down to be able to notice things in different ways OR to make connections.

That's what was claimed for the music that accompanied the Celts. It's patronising in the extreme.

[MrGongGong]

Until very recently, the default position for the sort of exhibition we are talking about was not to accompany it with specially commissioned 'ambient sound'.

It is still the default position for exhibitions at the National Gallery, the Tate, he Royal Academy, any other gallery I can think of. To introduce such a radical change to the way works of art for visual appreciation are presented needs to be argued for, not simply imposed.

It's something that some curators and artists are interested in (and has been for a very long time)
From what I have read (NOT heard) about these two exhibitions I probably would have also hated the sound BUT it really is the job of the curator (often in collaboration with artists) to decide. It's no more an "imposition" than anyone programming a concert or deciding to have three paintings on the first wall you encounter.

That's what was claimed for the music that accompanied the Celts. It's patronising in the extreme.

It's not patronising
but it might not be done very well

[jean]

What is the campaigning group on this...

It's called 'Pipedown'.

Here they are on M & S's recent change of policy:

Marks and Spencer stops its piped music!

From Wednesday 1st June all branches of Marks and Spencer will be free of piped music, following a decision by its executive. ‘We’ve listened to customer feedback, and the licence to play music in all our stores has now been cancelled with effect from 1st June 2016′ said Gary Bragg. This decision, which will save Marks and Spencer money, is the result of years and years of determined campaigning by Pipedowners and other people, who have refused to be fobbed off with bland dismissals. Marks and Spencer remains the UK’s biggest chain store, a national institution. So this is a great day for all campaigners for freedom from piped music.

Millions of customers will be delighted by this news. So will thousands, probably tens of thousands, of people working in M&S who have had to tolerate non-stop music not of their choice all day for years. Congratulate the management, especially the new CEO Steve Rowe, by emailing M&S at chairman@customersupport.marksandspencer.com

[french frank]

BUT it really is the job of the curator (often in collaboration with artists) to decide. It's no more an "imposition" than anyone programming a concert or deciding to have three paintings on the first wall you encounter.

No. If someone programmes a concert that you don't like the look of, you don't go.

This seems to be part of the modern ubiquity of music, the ipod and iPhone on the hoof, piped music while you shop - we shall have music wherever we go. Somebody else's choice of music. When you go to an exhibition, it's your choice of exhibition, not somebody else's.

[MrGongGong]

No. If someone programmes a concert that you don't like the look of, you don't go.

This seems to be part of the modern ubiquity of music, the ipod and iPhone on the hoof, piped music while you shop - we shall have music wherever we go. Somebody else's choice of music. When you go to an exhibition, it's your choice of exhibition, not somebody else's.

When you go to an exhibition, what is IN the exhibition is the choice of the curator (often the same as the artist) NOT the person who goes to the exhibition.
I used to go to look at the Rothko room in the Tate before they moved it, I hated the floor, BUT someone decided what the floor should be like.
I once worked on something with Howard Hodgkin, he was very particular about exactly what shade the walls should be and where the titles of the paintings should be and the sequence etc etc