- Noisy FieldsInterference and Equivocality in the Sonic Legacies of Information Theory
In Noisy Fields: Interference and Equivocality in the Sonic Legacies of Information Theory I discuss how noise causes interferences within disciplinary fields. I understand noise to be more than positive revolutionary potential or negative disruption; instead, noise functions equivocally, possessing aspects of each pole in varying degrees. Considering noise as a material-discursive phenomenon, I trace its intersections with sonic practices and information theory. Noise was key to early debates surrounding information theory, and I examine some situations that provide alternative formulations. I then trace the interrelationships between information theory, noise and early electronic music in the 1950s, outlining how artistic experiences necessitated new information theories. Considering the confluence of sound and information in finance, I show how noise is on one hand understood as a potential monetary source while ultimately confounding attempts at capture. I turn to the nexus of speech, the voice and noise to consider situations of parrhesia via noisy interferences within social systems through the activity of robotic performing objects. Finally, I listened to the electronic vocal manipulations of Maja Ratkje and Holly Herndon to consider a micropolitics of the noisy voice. In sum, I show how analyzing noise requires a transdisciplinary approach that traces the complicated dynamics of its interferences. © Nicholas A. Knouf
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