Sounding off ... the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo with his noise machine. Photograph: Hulton Archive
Artists seem bored with the regular mediums at the moment and have decided that noise is the way forward. Sound, you can hear them cry - rather in the same vein as Luigi Russolo cried (pdf) nearly a century ago - is the new frontier. But are the sound sculptures any good or should artists simply stick to image and installation?
Last week, crowds of people lined up alongside the Millennium Bridge and the river outside the Tate Modern. Part of the London Symphony Orchestra was floating on a barge on the river, a brass section was on shore and a group of volunteer musicians (playing everything from recorders to saxophones) stood on the bridge. As the sun went down, they began to play artist Alvin Curran's Maritime Rites. It sounded like strange discordant whales or really loud foghorns having a jam. At one point the bells of St Paul's joined in. Melody, it seems, isn't very popular with artists.
Christian Marclay has also been drawn towards the improvised discord. He recently released a pack of cards - Shuffle - which was the basis of a recent performance organised by sound-friendly art organisation Electra. Marclay photographed images of written music used in graphics and signs around the world. The aim is for people to shuffle and improvise on the notes, creating a different sound piece each time. Again, expect a lot of odd noises.
Is this what people want to hear? Art seems very much to be looking towards the last century's avant-garde classical music scene for inspiration. These pieces transform art into a very physical experience - the odd music literally hitting you. But often it just sounds cacophonous and a bit like hell.
That's not to say sound pieces can't work. Often they work best with film. Marclay, in particular, brilliantly uses film clips to create stunning edited montages that form new pieces of music - as well as reinvent film. Other online pieces by Cory Arcangel or Michael Boling (the amusingly named gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle.com) use music clips from YouTube to make interesting new sound and video works. Film anchors the music somehow, adds more developed layers beyond the wall of noise.
That's not to say straight forward melodic tunes are the way to go for art. The ever inventive Visionaire magazine has devoted its next issue to sound - creating five 12" records with music by Cat Power, Yoko Ono and Alexander McQueen among others. Strange abstract music is interspersed with new songs. But rather than art this just sounds like a very interesting music compilation - Visionaire's dream tracks. We need something different - but are purgatorial sound clashes the way to go?
