Obsolescent media, technology, and time in William Basinski’s experimental sound art

Abstract

As one of the most singular sound artists on the American scene since the early 1980s, William Basinski has created a defiant approach to sound that has helped configure new aesthetics of listening. His compositions, if that is the proper term, are primarily created by registering, cutting, assembling, and looping melodies recorded on old tapes. This text examines two of Basinski’s most intriguing works: The Disintegration Loops (2002) and On Time Out of Time (2019). Both pieces explore notions of time, obsolescence, and technology through highly experimental creative strategies. The first of these works emerged unexpectedly while, in an attempt to digitalize the content of old tapes, their magnetic material cracked and flaked off, causing the sound to slowly collapse. The second was commissioned by Caltech and MIT’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and transforms sound waves generated by the collision of two black holes that occurred 1.3 billion years ago. Thus, this text underlines how the artist’s work is intertwined with an active investigation of sonic recording tools and temporality. Ultimately, Basinski’s oeuvre proves that dying media and new technologies can merge to produce intricate, emotional, and visionary artworks that question the limits of our understanding of sound and how it is experienced.