With sound art being a range of practices rooted in audio and sound culture, it would make sense if there was a way of presenting worded information sonically- which there is: audio papers. An audio paper is an academic publication which is presented as an audio document. It allows for information to be relayed with added expression and detail which just written words, even just word themselves, can’t do on their own. In addition to this, they may be more accessible to people with visual impairments or who generally struggle to grasp a written document. Audio papers may also be preffered to a written document, as they may have the opportunity to be presented in exhibition spaces.

Before looking at and reviewing a few audio papers, it is important to be aware of the ‘Audio Paper Manifesto’, outlined below:

1. The audio paper affords performative aesthetics
2. The audio paper is idiosyncratic.
3. The audio paper is situated and partial.
4. The audio paper renders affects and sensations.
5. The audio paper is multifocal; it assembles diverse and often heterogeneous voices.
6. The audio paper has multiple protagonists, narrators and material agencies.
7. The audio paper brings aesthetics and technologies together in mediation.
8. The audio paper is a constituent part of larger ecologies.

Maria Chavez live performance: As a turntablist, I was fascinated by the way Maria Chavez uses “abstract turntablism” to create soundscapes- she describes the art of turntablism itself as audacious, as the performer touches the vinyl during playback, unlike it was designed to be. “Abstractifying” this is to just take it one step further in breaking conventions. Chavez foregoes the use of record sleeves and allows her vinyl to be stored in her record box, touching one another, creatin scratches. With other records, Chavez breaks them, using them to create sound collages. She uses a specially designed double needle cartridge to be able to stack the fragments of vinyl on top of each other.

As a turntablist, Chavez’s practice has inspired me to take my musical practice into the sound art realm in order to understand what it is she does. Being involved in abstract turntablism requires a good technical understanding of turntablism, so that one is able to break the conventions of how a turntable is meant to be used without damaging equipment / cuasing safety hazards.

It would be important to to talk about abstract turntablism in the form of an audio paper, as it would give the opportunity for demonstrations to be made on how works created within the practice sound. To be able to draft a script for an audio paper on abstract turntablsim, the historical context of turntablism must be understood and discovered within the audio paper, without making the listening experience consuiming for the consumer of the audio paper. To go about this, I would have to carry out interviews to provide information in a way that feels new and fresh.

Thinking forward, I believe talking about abstract turntablism in an audio paper would make for a great gallery exhibit, as it can be pressed onto vinyl to be presented in the form that it discusess.