PhD Oral Exam - Roozbeh Tabandeh, Individualized Program in Fine Arts

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

This research-creation project aims to investigate the interrelations between music and architecture, or sound and space, through the lens of recent theories in performativity and atmospheres. Using methods of contextual inquiry, case study, and qualitative research-creation inquiry, I intend to explore the performativity of space by analyzing spatial strategies in sound art practices to unveil their atmospheric dimensions and their ongoing interaction with architectural affordances. The project begins with an examination of a set of cases from spatial music and related practices between 1953 and 2014. This analysis and coding will provide a comprehensive understanding of the intentions, strategies, and methods adopted by composers and creators of these works, aiming toward a classification. My research demonstrates that the composers or creators of these works rely on space either as a site, as an extended instrument, as a resource, or as a metaphor.

It is important to note how these artists shifted away from viewing space as an empty, inert geometric entity, while simultaneously distancing themselves from the idea that music is only a matter of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic relationships. Instead, they developed a more complex, multilayered understanding of sound-space dispositions, engaging in a deep conversational exchange between sonic and spatial properties. I critically assess prevalent interpretations of the relationship between music and architecture, which frequently rely on superficial similarities, proportional relationships, and shared terminology. These approaches result in comparative-descriptive analyses often rooted in subjective assumptions, potentially distracting from more analytically relevant domains. My research aligns with emerging tendencies in sound studies and atmosphere theories, proposing a view of sonic spatiality as an affective and atmospheric experience, rather than simply an abstract relationship formulated through geometric relations and proportions. My approach relies on the distinction between intensive qualities—such as temperature or pressure, which are not inherently divisible—and extensive properties, such as length, area, and volume. I propose a methodological approach to sound-space analysis that emphasizes intensive qualities before considering extensive properties, rather than the opposite. The dissertation concludes with an autoethnographic review of my artistic creations, offering a potential avenue for future sound-space propositions in contemporary contexts.