Ear of the Beholder: Finding Beauty in the Mundane

Abstract

This talk is about finding beauty in what we would normally describe as mundane experience and then finding a way to make art from it. Since my expertise is in working with sound and music the focus of the talk will be on the phenomena of sound and audio.

I will argue that in our everyday lives we are literally surrounded by interesting things, beautiful things, and even profound things. But that we mostly ignore the enriching possibilities inherent in engaging with these “objects”. Beauty can be found anywhere but in order to ‘see’ it or ‘hear’ it we need to be receptive. This talk will examine the Buddhist notion of the Senses and then identify means by which we can create gateways to the experience of beauty in everyday experience. The particular focus will be on how to use digital processes which extend, alter, or confound our senses to “elevate” the mundane.