History in the Present Progressive: Sonic Imposture at The Pedicord Apts.

Scholars often think of sound, even recorded sound, as having a special relationship to the real that other historical artifacts do not. But if sound is a material thing, and things can be, from a new materialist perspective, “quasi-agents,” is it possible that sound is an agent that poses or acts? Three “scenes of history” utilizing recorded sound — Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, archival recordings of FDR, and a sound installation by Edward and Nancy Kienholz — provide diverse contexts through which to investigate the nature of sound’s material agency.