Over the past century, an art form has emerged that draws from the worlds of visual art and music. Sound art’s roots can be found in the experimental work of Italian Futurism, Dada, and later the Fluxus group and the pioneering efforts of the American composer and artist John Cage. In the wake of this groundbreaking work, sound art began to mature into a movement, and artists explored the interactive possibilities of sound and in turn created entirely new modes of experiencing and engaging with art. In this volume, the complete story of sound art is told by one of the country’s leading critics and scholars. The author traces the history of this form of art–highlighting the convergence of the indie world bands such as Sonic Youth with the art world–looking at the critical cross-pollination that has led to some of the most important and challenging art being produced today, including work by Christian Marclay, LaMonte Young, Janet Cardiff, Rodney Graham, and Laurie Anderson, among many others.

Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories

Arts & Photography

Licht, Alan

History & Criticism

Rizzoli

The Licht take is this: as a fan and an actual guitarist of repute, he's got a few observations and interpretations of the trends we've all been subjected to here in the US 80s/90s. Tracing the whole thing back to the sixties (what did you expect, going all the way back to the blues?), Alan takes on the NYC scene, the avant-garde, chart-busting synth-pop, the chilly days of the cold war, the even chillier days of post rock and more, breaking it all down into easy to read chunks. You owe it to the indie-rock fan in yourself to get An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn.

An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn

Music

Drag City

The first edition of Sound Art Revisited (published as Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories) served as groundbreaking work toward defining this emerging field, and this fully updated volume significantly expands the story to include current research since the book's initial release. Viewed through a lens of music and art histories rather than philosophy or theory, it covers dozens of artists and works not found in any other book on the subject. Alan Licht, one of the country's leading annalists and practitioners of sonic experimentation, traces the history of this form of art, locating sound art's roots in the spatialized church music of the 16th century, the boundary-pushing work of early 20th-century art movements Italian Futurism and Dada, the pioneering efforts of the American composer John Cage and musique concrète innovator Pierre Schaeffer, as well as the technological developments of radio, sound recording, and the telephone. From there, Sound Art Revisited highlights parallels between early sound art and Land art, the role of sound in Conceptual art, the sound sculpture of Jean Tinguely and Harry Bertoia, the rise of sound art exhibitions and galleries, sound art's relationship to sound studies, and finally looks at the critical cross-pollination that has led to some of the most important and challenging art with and about sound being produced today, including that of Christian Marclay, Haroon Mirza, Susan Philipsz, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, and Janet Cardiff, among many others.

Sound Art Revisited

Bloomsbury Academic

The first edition of Sound Art Revisited (published as Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories) served as a groundbreaking work toward defining this emerging field, and this fully updated volume significantly expands the story to include current research since the book's initial release. Viewed through a lens of music and art histories rather than philosophical theory, it covers dozens of artists and works not found in any other book on the subject. 
Locating sound art's roots across the centuries from spatialized church music to the technological developments of radio, sound recording, and the telephone, the book traces the evolution of sound installations and sound sculpture, the rise of sound art exhibitions and galleries, and finally looks at the critical cross-pollination that marks some of the most important and challenging art with and about sound being produced today.

One of the most versatile and prolific artists of the postwar era, Martin Kippenberger (1953–1997) has been the subject of numerous major exhibitions since his premature death at the age of 44. The last exhibition in his lifetime took place at the Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, in Mönchengladbach, Germany, and was titled Der Eiermann und seine Ausleger (The Eggman and his Outriggers). This publication focuses on nine paintings, a group of drawings and one sculpture that formed the center of this final exhibit, all of which were made in the last three years of Kippenberger’s life. These works explore the motif of the egg--a key theme throughout the artist’s career, deployed to variously reference rebirth, reproduction and circularity, and also used as a comic device: in one self-portrait, Kippenberger depicts himself as an eggman whose torso has expanded well beyond its youthful contours.

Martin Kippenberger: Eggman II

Individual Artists

Skarstedt

Product Description 
Conversations with the avant-garde’s leading lights―from Suicide to Anohni―by experimental music’s go-to interviewer, guitarist and sound artist Alan Licht 
For the past 30 years, Alan Licht has been a performer, programmer and chronicler of New York’s art and music scenes. His dry wit, deep erudition and unique perspective―informed by decades of experience as a touring and recording guitarist in the worlds of experimental music and underground rock―have distinguished him as the go-to writer for profiles of adventurous artists across genres. A precocious scholar and improvisor, by the time he graduated from Vassar College in 1990 Licht had already authored important articles on minimalist composers La Monte Young, Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine, and recorded with luminaries such as Rashied Ali and Thurston Moore. In 1999 he became a regular contributor to the British experimental music magazine the Wire while continuing to publish in a wide array of periodicals, ranging from the artworld glossies to underground fanzines.Common Tones gathers a selection of never-before-published interviews, many conducted during the writing of Licht’s groundbreaking profiles, alongside extended versions of his celebrated conversations with artists, previously untranscribed public exchanges and new dialogues held on the occasion of this collection. Even Lou Reed, a notoriously difficult interviewee, was impressed.Interviews by Alan Licht with Vito Acconci, ANOHNI, Cory Arcangel, Matthew Barney, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, the Dream Syndicate’s Karl Precoda, Richard Foreman, Henry Flynt, Milford Graves, Adris Hoyos, Ken Jacobs, Jutta Koether, Christian Marclay, Phill Niblock, Alessandra Novaga, Tony Oursler, Lou Reed, Kelly Reichardt, The Sea and Cake, Suicide, Michael Snow, Greg Tate, Tom Verlaine, Rudy Wurlitzer and Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan. 
 About the Author 
Alan Licht (né en 1968) est un écrivain, critique musical, musicien et guitariste expérimental et commissaire d'exposition basé à New York. Il joue depuis 1980 dans divers groupes de rock undergound et groupes expérimentaux comme Run On, Lovechild, The Blue Humans, The Pacific Ocean et Text of Light. Il a publié de nombreux albums de guitare solo et de disques de musique improvisée en duo ou en trio, collaborant avec des musiciens d'avant-garde tels que Jim O'Rourke, Loren Mazzacan Connors, Rudolf Grey, Lee Ranaldo et Aki Onda. 
Licht est rédacteur musical à BOMB magazine et ses essais et critiques sont parus dans Artforum, Parkett, The Wire, The Believer, Sight & Sound, etc.. Il est l'auteur de An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn, un essai personnel sur le passage à l'âge adulte en tant que fan de rock et musicien ; Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories, la première étude complète des installations et sculptures sonores à paraître en anglais, qui a donné lieu à une nouvelle édition réactualisée parue sous le titre Sound Art Revisited. Il est également coauteur de Will Oldham on Bonnie "Prince" Billy, un recueil d'entretiens avec Will Oldham, et, avec Cory Arcangel et Howie Chen, de la compilation de transcriptions de concerts Title TK 2010-2014.

Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020

Blank Forms Editions

Christian Marclay

It is sound--and our culturally determined reactions to it--that forms the basis of Christian Marclay's genre- and media-crossing art. Fascinated by the translation of the audible into the visual, the theme that informs all of his work is the space between what we hear and what we see. Telephone conversation, movies, reviews of musical performances, compact discs and album covers have all provided sources of inspiration for his work. This volume looks at the diverse body of work that Marclay has created from 1980 to the present, exploring it within the various contexts of music, art history and popular culture in which it exists. Twenty years of Marclay's sculpture, collage, installation, photography and video are represented. Essayists include Russell Ferguson, UCLA Hammer Museum chief curator and the Marclay exhibition curator; Miwon Kwon, University of California, Los Angeles professor of art history; Douglas Kahn, professor of technocultural studies at the University of California, Davis and a leading scholar of avant-garde music; and Alan Licht, musician and sometime Marclay collaborator. The definitive volume on one of today's most influential artists. Edited by Russell Ferguson.

Kahn, Douglas

Kwon, Miwon

Marclay, Christian

Steidl/UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Licht, Alan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Licht, Alan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Licht, Alan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories

An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn

Sound Art Revisited

Sound Art Revisited

Martin Kippenberger: Eggman II

Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020

Christian Marclay