Imagination, Perceptual Engagement and Sound Mediation. Thinking Technologically-Produced Sound Through Simondon's Concept of the Image

Applying French philosopher Gilbert Simondon’s concept of image to the domain of the sonorous, this article aims to tackle how imagination is constitutional in our grasp of sound, and how this grasp is informed by the protocols and affordances of technological tools of sound reproduction and manipulation. Simondon proposes a notion of imagination that, rather than referring to the capacity of a subjective consciousness, designates a series of processes within which the image emerges. The image is conceived as the product of an activity, a node in a circuit of processes of anticipation, reception, recollection, and invention which articulate the interaction of an agent and its medium. Conceiving the sound image through this model emphasizes how perceptual instances of sound take shape within modes of engagement, articulated through the affordances of technologies of audio manipulation that we use on a daily basis. By applying this notion, this article aims to address technology within the realm of artistic practice not as a tool to expand the palette of possibilities of our imagination, but as inherent in the conditions of our grasp of the sonorous. By elaborating on my sound installation Focus, I aim to outline a practice that exposes the way imagination is entwined with imprints of technologies and particular circumstances of sound mediation.