The project schizopodcast: podcast is a podcast is a podcast is a sonic artwork that was temporarily exhibited online. It was initially launched in an open-ended manner with the intention of remaining unfinished. In order to present the project to an audience interested in artistic research and sound studies, I decided to expand the original introduction (Audio track 1), provide more context and detail, and thus document the fragmentary outcome of the work.
The project was implemented as a web application with a simple design reminiscent of the cassette aesthetics of the 1980s. The website’s landing page featured the title, the site menu, and a media player with an audio track entitled ‘What is this? On Cultural Toads, Sonic Nod/tes and and and’ (Audio track 1). The content was organized into four main sections, referred to as thematic nod/tes, entitled ‘Mat/terial Girls’, ‘Cultural Toads’, ‘Sonic Thinking’, and ‘Sonic Utopias’. These sections could be accessed via the menu links; selecting one opened a new page and started the podcasting thread of the rhizomatic or generative podcast. The navigation allowed the listener to either browse the site or start over for a new experience.
In this exposition, I will address the work’s conceptual framework (section 2), the methodology used in its creation (section 3), and its position as a kind of sonic narratology (section 4). In doing so, I will attempt to map out the notion of sonic fictioning through the case of schizopodcast: podcast is a podcast is a podcast. This concept is based on both observations from my teaching and my art research practice, which inform the heuristics I deploy in higher education. The essay seeks to show that sound is not only a medium for narrative, but that sonic fictioning is a fundamentally sound-led approach, producing an aesthetic that appeals to the listener’s intuition and speculative flight in the making of possible worlds. In considering what it means to take sonic thinking seriously, interrelated themes and concerns are explored to illuminate the philosophical and practical implications of this project.
It is worth noting that schizopodcast: podcast is a podcast is a podcast was commissioned for an art show called ‘Material Girls’, hence the playful reference to Madonna’s pop hit of the same name, with an emphasis on the concept of material as ‘matter’, ‘medium’, and ‘data’, contrary to its intended connotation.
While the project was completed in parts through collaboration, this text is single-authored and acknowledges all relevant contributions made by my collaborator. Note that the web application itself is no longer active.