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Amplifying Sensory Spaces: The In and Outputs of Headphone Theatre

Klich, Rosemary E. (2017) Amplifying Sensory Spaces: The In and Outputs of Headphone Theatre. Contemporary Theatre Review, 27 (3). pp. 366-378. ISSN 1048-6801. E-ISSN 1477-2264. (doi:10.1080/10486801.2017.1343247) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:45525)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1080/10486801.2017.1343247

Abstract

Headphone theatre stimulates the interaction of media modalities and multimodal perception, and as such, is in an interesting position to explore and challenge the politics of perception. Addressing the relationship of the visual and the aural and the potential subversion of the hierarchy of the senses, this paper will examine the ways in which headphones manipulate relationships between what is seen (or not) and what is heard. Cognitive science and phenomenology will be used to analyse the ways in which headphone theatre creates slippages in our perception and triggers multimodal effects. Examples of headphone theatre will be explored, with particular focus on David Rosenberg’s The Roof (2014) and Ring (2013), and Lundahl and Seitl's Symphony of a Missing Room (2014), and discussion will consider the theatricalisation and mediatisation of the senses and perception. Drawing on Marshall McLuhan’s understanding of auditory space, this paper will further address how headphone theatre emphasizes “synaesthesia and wholeness” and activates haptic perception. Headphone theatre creates various dimensions of auditory space that surround, and resonate within, the body of the listener, inevitably complicating their role as perceiver and participant. Finally, the experience of the listener as being in a shared performance space will be explored: headphones both isolate and connect.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/10486801.2017.1343247
Uncontrolled keywords: headphones, performance, perception, senses
Subjects: N Visual Arts > NX Arts in general
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The theatre
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
Depositing User: R. Klich
Date Deposited: 25 Nov 2014 16:03 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:20 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/45525 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Klich, Rosemary E..

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