Edmund Burke A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
The more I read about the notion of the sublime the more I became interested in the idea of the sublime as an experience. As an artist I wanted to explore how I could communicate the notion of my fear through an experinece imbued with sublimity.
The concept of the sublime has a history of philosophy of aesthetics reaching back to the 18th century and any discussion in relation to contemporary art must consider this history.
Edmund Burke believed “The intention of artists would be to depict an experience, which was for them already imbued with sublimity: to provide the viewer with the same overwhelming feelings they themselves had already experienced. These could be feelings of awe mixed with trepidation from a sight that can inspire.”The intention of using the notion of my personal fear of the dark and unexplained sounds was to re-create the feelings of dread, suspense and anxiety that I have experienced. I feel that the audio walks are a sufficient vehicle to express this experience in an intimate manner to the listener.
Burke suggests that these feelings can be re created by sound “Excessive loudness alone is sufficient to overpower the soul, to suspend its action, and to fill it with terror.” The sounds that I have been recording relate to the aesthetics of my personal experience because these are the sounds that I live with and the sounds that still have the power to wake me in fear.
I have been reading The Sublime: Between Darkness and Light, Arts Council catalogue.This source has been very useful and has expressed the sublime as a 'Human experience that is beyond the everyday' and that 'The sublime can inspire bliss and exhilaration as well as fear and dread'.
