The Sonic Image: Exploring the relationships between the sound and visual worlds.

Perth, Western Australia, 27th – 29th April 2007

The THNMF Conference, held in conjunction with The 8th Totally Huge New Music Festival, is a forum for artists from diverse areas of practice, along with critics, commentators and academics, to discuss the ideas which underline contemporary New Music and Sound Art—the histories, methods, theories, approaches, techniques and dreams which make up the modern world of music and Sound Arts. The THNMF Conference offers opportunity for presentations of refereed and non-refereed papers, performances, demonstrations and workshops.

The Conference is presented by Tura New Music, in association with the Faculty of Education and Arts, Edith Cowan University, including the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and is supported by the School of Music at the University of Western Australia.

Theme

Sound and image have traditionally been seen as opposing concepts; a separation of eye and ear. Yet visual methods of transcription and recording have been part of standard musical practice since the invention of notation, through to the later development of waveform analysis and visualisation in the 20th century.

The focus of the conference is how have musicians and theorists—particularly in Australia—approached this dialectic between sound and image? How have composers/improvisers/sound artists drawn on visual languages, metaphors and techniques in creating their music, and how have they collaborated with practitioners in the visual arts and cinema to produce new sound works and new ways of thinking about the act of composition? Can visuality exist in contemporary pure music works?

Suggested Topics and Themes:

The 8th Totally Huge New Music Festival and the associated Conference are inclusive events, devised to appeal to both practitioners and academics, audiences and artists. As such, the Conference Convenors welcome proposals involving any aspect of Australian New Music, international Sound Art, composition and sonic creation. We are however particularly seeking papers and sessions which address the principal themes of the Conference. Suggested topics for papers include (but are not limited to): -

- Image in Australian composition in the 21st century

- Cinesonics and other intersections between screen culture and music/sound (film score, sound design for screen, installation, music video, musical composition for web-pages, gaming culture)

- Performance and projection (VJ-ing, A-V art, projection and sound in theatre and dance, the musical performer as a visual focus)

- The gap between visual scores and musical performance, improvisation and the score, conventional notation as visual art

- Visual metaphors in music (the acousmatic image, composition as
landscape, visualising space in music, the use of the descriptor “cinematic” in popular music criticism, waveform in Sound Art)

- Synaesthesia and the translation of visual perception into music or sound, and vice-versa (Futurist and Surrealist synaesthesia, colour in music, the close-up and extreme focus in music, operatic composition as a total art of sound and image)

Guidelines:

1. Individual or joint paper presentations should be no longer than twenty minutes. Panel organisers are strongly encouraged to enforce times.

2. Performances should be no longer than thirty minutes and may include a short lecture component.

3. The Convenors encourage proposals from artists, academics, composers, performers, sound designers, critics, instrument makers and students alike.

4. Following the conclusion of the Conference, presenters will be encouraged to submit their papers for publication in Sound Scripts: Proceedings of the THNMF conference. The journal will be refereed to DEST guidelines and will be published before Jan 2008. Style guides are available from the Conference Convenors.

5. Although encouraging submission of papers for formal refereeing, the Convenors are also calling for non-refereed paper presentations and performances, especially from practicing artists. Papers which are not presented at the Conference itself may also be considered for publication in the Proceedings. Priority will however be given to authors who present at the Conference.

6. Presenters are required to register for the entire Conference program Additionally, presentation at the Conference will automatically enrol the presenter in the Music Research Group of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, at no extra charge.

7. Performances and paper presentations will not be remunerated.

How to submit a proposal:

1. Abstracts and proposals are due by 1st October 2006. Please submit via email to: conference@tura.com.au

2. Proposals for papers should include an abstract of approximately 500 words. Please insert the abstract text into the body of the email and also send it an attachment file in rich text format (RTF).

3. Attachments should be named as follows:
THNMFC_Surname&initial_date(ddmmyy).rtf E.g.: THNMFC_SmithS_060706.rtf

4. Proposals for papers should clearly state if you are or are not applying to be refereed.

5. Proposals for papers should also include notes on any technical and/or spatial requirements for presentation (i.e. any audio-visual needs, use of PowerPoint, PA, etc).

6. Proposals for performances, artist talks and master classes—with or without a lecture component—should also include supporting material, such as an audio CD or score. Supporting material can be sent to: Tura New Music, Suite 10/1 Rokeby Rd, Subiaco, WA 6008.

7. All submissions should be accompanied by a THNMF Conference Submission Form (downloadable at www.tura.com.au).

8. The THNMFC Committee will acknowledge receipt of submissions and communicate its decisions via email by 1st November 2006.

9. All inquiries regarding the Conference should be addressed to:

Kate Parker
Tura New Music
conference@tura.com.au
(08) 9380 6996

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The 8th TOTALLY HUGE NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL
runs from 20th April to 6th May 2007.

The Totally Huge New Music Festival is a biennial exploration of New Music and Sound Art, featuring musicians from Western Australia and around the world.

The Totally Huge New Music Festival provides a captivating showcase of new chamber music, electronica, installations, improvisation, radiophonics, multimedia and Sound Art in metropolitan and regional Western Australia.

For program updates go to www.tura.com.au

Tura New Music
Suite 10, 1 Rokeby Rd
Subiaco WA 6008
Australia
Ph: 61.8. 9380 6996
Fax: 61.8. 9380 6997
Email: info@tura.com.au
web: www.tura.com.au