Sonic Sculpture and the Performative Impulse

This study considers the performativity of sound-producing sculptures made in the twenty-first century through a cultural history of certain works. A subfield of the sound art medium, sonic sculpture presents new possibilities in sensory engagement with the viewer, creating a mediated experience for eye and ear. Contextualized within three linking nodes of sonic engagement – sonic sculpture as a socially engaged art, listening to history, and the use of the human body as the material of sonic sc