Cold Milk

 "...The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation." 

"Everyone is in the best seat."

"Everything we do is music." (John Cage quoted in McLuhan pp.118)

McLuhan and John Cage both understand the importance of sound as a medium we can't escape in life. 

"Cold Milk" Original photograph

"We simply are not equipped with earlids." (McLuhan 111). Importantly, since visual art has the capacity to be abstract or even non representational, sound is allowed to be dissonant or even exploratory in a way where the main take away is how the listener feels. 

Taking my inspiration from John Cage's "Water Walk" I decided to use strange liquid sounds as a way to challenge the listener while also leaving the door open for them to laugh if they can't listen past the strangeness. Where my project differs is that I wanted to trigger an intense feeling in my listeners. I borrowed an extremely high quality microphone and recorded distinct ASMR reflex triggering sounds which are supposed to send a chill up your spine while still being pleasant to listen to. I poured several kinds of liquids from milk to sparkling water over varying sized ice cubes in varying sized cups. I also have a brief period of audio of myself squeezing whipped cream through a plastic bakers piping bag. I find the sounds incredibly satisfying but I recognize people react to these sounds differently. I really suggest  listening to this audio with stereo headphones to get the intended experience. Art is how we decorate space and sound is how we decorate time. 

https://soundcloud.com/narwhal-man-1/cold-milk?si=ca325be9f3f8425d866e80ea044da724&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing