Intimate Listening
Space and proximity are entangled in the idea of listening. First, I set up the relationship between intimacy and listening through Jean-Luc Nancy. Second, I consider highlights of nineteenth-century discoveries in the history of physiology and functional anatomy of the cochlea and the labyrinth of the inner ear, those spaces and chambers whose non-auditory function was determined only through painstaking experimentation. This leads to Michel Serres’ consideration of the interior and exterior noise of the body, including a proprioceptive hearing of intimate personal sounds through skin, bone, feet, and muscle, a bodily interior that resonates like boxes (boîtes). Third, I apply this shared intimacy of listening to a few examples of sound art that explore resonances across sensory modalities and bodily spaces, including the work of Jacob Kirkegaard, who employs the phenomenon of otoacoustic emission (OAE), and Adam Basanta.