Polyphony, or what, in simpler terms, may be described as a ”multiplicity of sounds” or “voices,” is the common ground for a set of collective research activities that Barbara Preisig is organizing for the Institute for Contemporary Art Research.
Polyphony is, in fact, a multi-use and highly ambiguous term most commonly used to describe a musical texture consisting of two or more equally important lines of melody. How can the concept of a “multiplicity of sounds” or “voices” be translated into the sphere of the arts? Can a painting, a film, or a photograph speak in tongues? And if so, would the author’s voice be decentered, the audience’s voices multiplied? What kind of attention is needed to perceive a polyphony in the first place? What would polyphonic field research look like? Is listening a valid research method?
With these research initiatives we aim to highlight often-neglected relational, auditory, and receptive aspects of art. Taken as a perceptual tool (rather than a defining term), polyphony might offer a speculative approach to art as a space of entangled, shared experience(s) and ways to subvert old but still valid assumptions, such as the notion of single and well-centered author- and encountership or the clear separation between production and reception.
Project responsible: Barbara Preisig