Art - Mind

International Symposium: The Soundtrack (Paris, October 16-17, 2008)

Nicolas J. Bullot — 2008-09-10T11:46:00Z

The CRAL – EHESS and the Institut Jean Nicod organize on the 16th and 17th of October 2008 in Paris, Salle Jules Ferry, 29 rue d'Ulm 75005 the international symposium

The Soundtrack Perception and Sonic Representation in Films

What are the narrative, semantic, epistemic and emotional functions of sonic representations in films? What are the contributions of soundtracks to the efficiency of narrative, documentary or experimental films and videos? The soundtrack of a film is traditionally comprised of recorded speech, sound effects and music. It can serve distinct roles, the specification of which depends of establishing how recorded sounds relate to the contents of simultaneously visible images. Such roles depend on the director's choice of a specific genre of audiovisual representation alongside a series of narrative or stylistic conventions. However, these roles are also governed by universal perceptual, emotional and cognitive dispositions of the human mind. Recent research in philosophy and cognitive science on auditory and multimodal perception, fiction theory and simulation theory provides new insights for apprehending the ontology, epistemology and aesthetics of audiovisual representations and audiovisual arts. Conversely, filmic works and their psychological effects provide researchers with fascinating cases for the study of perceptual and cognitive mechanisms. For instance, although the perception of a filmic work is distinct from the natural perception of ordinary non-representational objects, film makers' decisions may rely on an intuitive understanding of fundamental aspects of multimodal perception and cognition. The symposium is aimed at fostering the dialogue between (i) film theory and the cognitive sciences and (ii) film theory and philosophy. It will also provide an occasion to focus on the ways in which a film soundtrack contributes to the construction of fictional objects.

PROGRAM

16/10

10H30 Opening by Jean-Marie Schaeffer (director of the CRAL) and the organizers 11H00 Noel Carroll (Temple University), Margaret Moore (Temple University): Three Problems in the Philosophy of Movie Music 12H00 Laurent Juillier (Université Paris III): Being human through music. On Matrix Revolutions

15H00 Jerrold Levinson (University of Maryland): Sound in films. Design vs. commentary 16H00 Round table and demonstrations: Sonic objects and agency in space-time, with Nicolas Bullot (CRAL, CNRS), Roland Cahen (composer, sound designer), Krista Dragomer (multimedia artist, University of British Columbia), Guy Senaux (sound engineer), Christian Zanési (composer, INA-GRM) ; presentations of electro-acoustic and audiovisual works.

17/10

10H00 Gregory Currie (University of Nottingham): Sonic irony. The interpretation of ‘The birds' 11H00 Jérôme Dokic (Institut Jean Nicod - EHESS): Perception of diegetic and extra-diegetic sounds in cinema 12H00 Barbara Flueckiger (University of Zurich): Personal styles in sound design

15H00 Michael Kubovy (University of Virginia): Audio-visual objects 16H00 Round table and demonstrations: Acoustic/visual images, with Robert Cahen (video), Frédéric Pascal (Institut Jean Nicod – CNRS), Alain Savouret (composer), Gian Maria Tore (Université du Luxembourg); presentations of electro-acoustic and audiovisual works.

Organization committee: Nicolas Bullot (CRAL – CNRS), Gesine Hindemith (CRAL – CNRS), Frédéric Pascal (Institut Jean Nicod – CNRS), Elena Pasquinelli (Institut Jean Nicod – CNRS) Contact: Elena Pasquinelli elena.pasquinelli@gmail.com

Abstracts (talks)

Noël Carroll (Temple University), Margaret Moore (Temple University), "Three Problems in the Philosophy of Movie Music." "Three Problems in the Philosophy of Movie Music" will review and comment on three emerging issues in the philosophy of movie music. The three problems are: 1) what is movie music? 2) Is there a uniquely filmic function of movie music? and 3) are there implicit musical presenters of diegetic movie music?

Gregory Currie (University of Nottingham), "Sonic Irony: Interpreting The Birds" Hitchcock's The Birds has been the subject of a number of interpretations which assume a significant relation between the birds and the psychologies of the human agents in the film. I am sceptical of these proposals. I offer an interpretation of the film which postulates no such relationship and which depends, in part, on a way of understanding Hitchcock's use of sound, particularly the sounds made by the birds.

Barbara Flueckiger (University of Zurich), "Personal Styles in Sound Design" The concept of sound design as a creative agency has emerged in the 1970s. However, in actual film production, there are constraints at play that limit artistic freedom and remain beyond the sound designer's sphere of influence. The requirements of each individual film are a further dimension that shapes the sound work. How does a sound designer succeed in establishing his own artistic style in this context? Is he or she able to develop his or her own style? Or is the utmost flexibility in mastering the task and responding to the needs of the narrative the key to success in sound design?

Laurent Jullier (Nancy II, IRCAV), "Being Human Through Music. On The Matrix Revolutions, A. & L. Wachowski 2003" In a particular sequence of The Matrix, the claim for humanity entails playing music and dancing on it much more than talking or praying. The choice of pop-dance music in the sequence may be viewed as merely guided by commercial interests. My point, however, is to demonstrate that this sequence is rather an exemplification of a number of universals, a set of universally cognizable patterns of musical sound. Furthermore, both the choreography and the staging of this sequence also illustrate universal patterns.

Michael Kubovy (University of Virginia), "Audio-Visual Objects" Building on my earlier work on Gestalts in vision and audition, I have developed a theory of audio-visual objects to explain how perceptual systems bind sounds and visual information into phenomenally integral wholes. After reviewing this work, I will address its application to sound in film, which exemplifies four ways in which cross-modal binding can take place: by (1) sound-meaning (the work of Koelsch and colleagues); (2) sensory dominance (the ventriloquism effect); (3) joint embodiment; (4) cross-modal causality (collaboration with M. Schutz).

Jerrold Levinson (University of Maryland), "Sound in Films: Design versus Commentary" As my title suggest, the main focus of my talk will be the distinction between film sound as design and film sound as commentary. Or perhaps better, the distinction between the design–or roughly, aesthetic–function and the commentative —or roughly, signifying—function of sounds in film. This distinction will be critically examined, and then explored both in relation to the main categories of film sound—such as music, voice-over, dialogue, natural sound, man-made sound—and to the distinction between diegetic and non-diegetic sound. A recurring question will be to what agency, in interpreting a film, do we appropriately attribute sounds that function in those ways, and perhaps other ways as well. As my central illustration I will concentrate on the singular and unusual use of sound in Jean-Luc Godard's iconic New Wave film, Masculin-Feminin.

[2008, 05, 19] Le référent photographique, Michel Frizot (19 mai 2008)

Nicolas J. Bullot — 2008-05-08T10:45:57Z

Michel Frizot est directeur de recherche au CNRS (CRAL-EHESS), enseignant de Mastère EHESS et directeur de thèses.

Il a dirigé:
Nouvelle Histoire de la Photographie, Bordas, 1994 (Larousse, 2001), (éditions américaine et allemande, Könemann, 1998) ;

Il est auteur notamment de
Histoire de Voir, 1989 ;
Etienne-Jules Marey chronophotographe, Nathan/Delpire, 2001 ;
Dieter Appelt, Actes Sud, 2005;
Photo Trouvée, photographies d'amateurs (avec Cédric de Veigy), Phaidon Press.

Il a publié de nombreux articles scientifiques sur la photographie ancienne et moderne, et sur la théorie de l'image photographique.

[2008, 05, 05] Attention, réflexivité et méta-cognition dans la cognition esthétique - J. Proust (5 mai)

2008-04-22T21:50:41Z

Bonjour à tous,

Vous êtes chaleureusement invités à la sixième séance du séminaire Art et Cognition aura lieu ce lundi 5 mai dans la salle de réunion du Centre de Recherches sur les Arts et le Langage (CRAL), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 96, bd. Raspail.

Joëlle Proust (CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod) présentera un exposé sur le thème suivant : « Attention, réflexivité et méta-cognition dans la cognition esthétique »

La lecture d'arrière-plan de l'exposé est l'article suivant : Proust, J. (2007). Metacognition and metarepresentation: Is a self-directed theory of mind a precondition for metacognition? Synthese, 159, 271-295.

Par ailleurs, comme lectures complémentaires, vous trouverez en ligne le numéro de /Consciousness and Cognition/ de 2000 spécialement consacré à la relation entre la conscience et la méta-cognition (dirigé par T. Nelson et G. Rey, il comprend quatre articles accompagnés de commentaires d'A. Koriat, D. Rosenthal, J. Prinz et D. Fernandez-Duque, J. Baird & M. Posner). Ces textes sont disponibles par l'intermédiaire de cette page : http://groups.google.fr/group/art-and-cognition

(Vous pouvez nous envoyer un message si vous n'avez pas encore d'accès à la page et aux articles.)

Bien cordialement,

Nicolas Bullot Avec Elena Pasquinelli et Gesine Hindemith

[2008, 04, 21] Simulation et reference (21 April / avril)

2008-04-21T08:00:00Z

http://seeadog.seminar.googlepages.com/s%C3%A9ance2 - ART & COGNITION [Seminar / séminaire]

[2008, 04, 07] Images and knowledge - S. Martinez (07 April / avril)

2008-04-07T07:41:00Z

ABSTRACT:

IMAGES AND KNOWLEDGE: FROM PLATO TO RECENT COGNITIVE SCIENCE

Sergio F. Martínez Instituto de Investigaciones Filosofícas, UNAM

ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ARGUMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN THOUGHT IS NO DOUBT PLATO´S ARGUMENT ACCORDING TO WHICH IMAGES BELONG TO A COGNITIVE STATE FARTHER REMOVE FROM KNOWLEDGE. PLATO´S ARGUMENT ASSUMES THAT THERE IS ONE SINGLE CANON OF RATIONALITY AND THAT SUCH CANON CANNOT BE GIVEN BY IMAGES. THIS ASSUMES, IN TURN, A PROFOUND DIVIDE BETWEEN “MAKING” AND “KNOWLEDGE”. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION CHALLENGED SUCH DIVIDE TO A GOOD EXTENT, BUT THE RECOGNITION OF AN IMPORTANT RELATION BETWEEN MAKING AND KNOWLEDGE DID NOT GO FAR ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE THE IDEA THAT IMAGES CANNOT PLAY A SUBSTANTIAL ROLE IN KNOWLEDGE PRODUCING PRACTICES. IN SCIENCE, IMAGES WERE OFTEN THOUGHT AS AUXILIARY DEVICES IN PRINCIPLE AVOIDABLE IN THE ARTICULATION OF KNOWLEDGE. I WILL PRESENT SOME WORK IN RECENT COGNITIVE SCIENCE THAT CHALLENGE THE WAY IN WHICH THE RELATION BETWEEN MAKING AND KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN FORMULATED AND SUGGEST A DIFFERENT VIEW. IN THIS VIEW, IMAGES COME TO PLAY A CRUCIAL (INDISPENSABLE) ROLE IN KNOWLEDGE PRODUCING PRACTICES.

Sergio Martinez

Current position: research professor in Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, UNAM

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

History and Philosophy of the natural sciences (Physics and Biology in particular). Theories of Explanation and Causality. Philosophy of Science and technology and its implications for epistemology. Currently I work on the development of an approach to a Philosophy of scientific practices, and in particular the role of evolutionary models of cognition (in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology and learning) in accounts of practices. I am also working on the role of diagrams in explanations (and more generally argumentation) in science.

LIBROS

De los efectos a las causas, PAIDOS-UNAM, 1997

Geografía de las Prácticas Científicas: Racionalidad, Heurística y Normatividad, UNAM, noviembre 2003.

Ciencia y Tecnología en Sociedad. En co-autoría con Edna Suárez. En prensa, co-edición Facultad de Ciencias UNAM y Limusa.

COMPILACIONES y LIBROS COLECTIVOS:

Historia y Explicación en Biología, co-editado con Ana Barahona, FCE, 1998.

Epistemología Evolucionista, co-editado con León Olive, PAIDOS-UNAM, 1997.

Filosofía e Historia de la Biología, co-compilado con Ana Barahona y Edna Suárez, UNAM, 2000

Filosofía, Historia y Enseñanza de la Ciencia, co-compilado con Godfrey Guillaumin, UNAM, 2005.

Normas y Prácticas en la Ciencia, co-compilado con José Miguel Esteban, en proceso de dictamen en el Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, UNAM.

[2008, 03, 17] Les styles sonores du cinéma moderne (Tati, Bresson, Godard) - G. Hindemith (17 March / mars)

Gesine Hindemith — 2008-03-17T07:32:00Z

L'objectif est de montrer comment se forment des styles sonores à partir de la perception d'objets sonores ayant une relation avec les images filmiques. L'hypothèse à la base de l'analyse est qu'on ne peut que parler d'un style sonore que si l'objet sonore devient perceptible en se séparant de l'image par des petits objets temporels, qui se manifestent comme figures (Gestalts) dans l'expérience du spectateur/auditeur et qui traverse le (...) - ART & COGNITION [Seminar / séminaire]

[2008, 03, 31] Theory of audible objects / La théorie des objets audibles - N. Bullot (31 mars)

2008-03-03T08:46:00Z

Les lectures pour ce séminaire sont données à cette page:
http://groups.google.fr/group/art-and-cognition - ART & COGNITION [Seminar / séminaire]

[2008, 02, 18] Les prescriptions perceptives - E. Pasquinelli (18 février)

2008-02-18T17:00:00Z

Voir / see:
http://seeadog.seminar.googlepages.com/s%C3%A9ance1 - ART & COGNITION [Seminar / séminaire]

Artefact [Workshop]

Nicolas J. Bullot — 2008-01-26T13:14:52Z

This page will present the project about artefacts. - Artefacts

Tacet (4'33 series)

Examples of the TACET DATABASE sound collection can be found at this URL: http://art-mind.org/review/article.php3?id_article=231 (see the bottom of this page)).

The word ‘tacet' (Lat.: ‘he is silent') is used in music scores to refer to an instruction found in vocal and instrumental parts, mainly when a performer is silent for a whole movement. The term is used in the title of the Tacet database because the latter gathers recordings in which any potential or possible performer in the recorded situation (e.g., the person with the microphones or any music performer surrounding the microphones) remains silent in an environment which is not itself silent.

In addition, the title alludes to the work of John Cage: ‘Tacet' is the only word/symbol in the score of 4'33 by John Cage. Thus, the title is chosen because each recording is an attempt to interpret Cage's silent piece (4'33), in the sense that no deliberate musical performance is performed during any of the recording belonging to the Tacet database. Each recording included in the Tacet database has a date and location and lasts exactly 4'33 (cf. MP3 files on the website).

Some files are binaural recordings (best heard with high fidelity headphones), others use different techniques such as ORTF stereophonic recordings. The Tacet series can be divided into two groups.

The first group encompasses soundscapes only (field recordings of various open-field environments).

The second group encompasses soundings objects only (close-miking explorations of the ‘inner life' of material objects/artifacts and biological bodies which are rarely encountered, difficult or impossible to listen to by unaided auditory perception).

There are convincing reasons to consider that the recordings of the Tacet series are not equivalent to a strict interpretation of 4'33, since 4'33 is essentially a performance piece (Davies, 1997). The Tacet series operates more like a tribute to Cage, freely inspired by elements of his thinking and composition (especially, the interest for immersion in non-musical and environmental sounds, attentive listening and chance operations).

The Tacet series is made in association with the project Knowledge of Sound (Bullot, Casati, Dokic, Giri, in progress).

The examples below are provided in high resolution MP3 files of about 10 Mo each (original uncompressed files are high resolution WAV files).