Figures in Air : Essays Toward a Philosophy of Audio

In this volume, theorist and sound artist Micah Silver addresses the impact of sound on human behavior and social space. Silver’s research ranges from Yves Klein’s Air Architecture to La Monte Young’s Dream House, and culminates in a discussion of historically significant sound systems, from discos, Monterey and Woodstock to the GRM studio, and their physical and experiential impacts, such as the Grateful Dead’s famous Wall of Sound custom PA. Disambiguating sound from audio, Silver defines sound as “the domain of physics” in order to examine its phenomenology in the world, and audio as a process “that employs technology to construct temporary social architectures made of air.”

Micah Silver is an artist and curator who studied music at Wesleyan and in MIT’s Art, Culture, and Technology program. His installation and performance work has been produced by Mass MoCA, ISSUE Project Room, Palais de Tokyo in Paris and OK Zentrum, among other venues in the US and internationally.