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In this ‘bird-Transcription’, I focus on the “timbre” of birdsong, rather than the pitch or rhythm of the birdsong, which is less uncertain. As well as Symbolisation & Simplification work, I focused on ’tone’ which is not formed in the traditional notation system. The interesting part of this system is presenting movement in their notation system by using only a white background and a square as a notation. This work proves that replacing sounds with symbols can exist without a frame of notation system. The method displayed in some areas and expressed detailed movement without rules shows the possibility of how can we replace the sounds. 

Innovative graphics can extend our capacities beyond traditional text-based reading methods to move diverse visual forms. In this text, Johanna claims that in the city, or at the next exhibition, new graphical arrangements appear. Similarly, the symbols I created created new visual and spatial contexts.

The traditional notation reading system, still in use today, has been reimagined from a static to a digital world in this work. This transition redefines the meaning of ‘symbol’ within the framework of the traditional notation system. This new sound symbol work is designed with reference to two critical literacies: a form of critical literacy and compositional activity, for translating traditional visual systems into new visual forms.

Graphic design has the potential to interpret, revise, and critique the world. People often think through graphics, and sometimes graphics help people understand the world. At the beginning of this project, I asked myself: How can graphic communicators ‘interpret’ or ‘revise’ the world, and with which methods?

I have a deep love for music and sounds, particularly the way sound can dominate space. However, traditional notation systems fail to capture the visceral, immersive experience of sound. This study began as an effort to represent the powerful way sounds can shape our perception of space.

Why has the existing sound notation system focused only on the sounds themselves? I believe this limitation stems from the historical recording method of ‘writing’ that began long ago. Starting in the 9th century, people sought to record sounds on 2D paper. To achieve this, they created symbols for sounds that became widely accepted and used. This traditional notation system, which emerged in the 9th century and was fully established by the 13th century, continues to be used globally today.

Ellen likened this symbol system to hieroglyphics, where images are integrated into the realm of writing. These hieroglyphics, In the world of sounds, these symbols are represented by musical notes and notation.

The question of how this ‘symbol’ most effectively records music or sound led me to experiment with re-creating it. I want to explain architecture as an example. Many office towers have come to function as graphic ‘symbols’, or logos, for corporations, and their silhouettes have become giant commercial signs. The thing that I want to mention is that architecture itself, rather than a simplified, one-dimensional graphic drawn on a simple plane, is now taking on the role of a symbol.

We’ve been using the note system we’ve been using all along as a “symbol,” which is actually not just a notation, but a giant signboard or a promised graphic that compresses the musical world. Are our extremely simplified musical symbols for notation sufficiently representative of sound? Like the architecture Ellen mentioned, isn’t there potential for music symbols to be symbolised in new ways? That’s where my questions started. 

In order to do this, I abandoned any further symbolisation, simplification, or graphics that existed in a flat plane. When I first started this work, I fell into the mannerism of designing recordable ‘symbols’, simplifying and trying to make sense of music with graphics that promised to be universal ‘symbols’ that I knew. But as I continued to symbolise, I realised that while simplification is necessary, it’s not very efficient when it comes to representing something to the extent that it can be understood. 

Our world no longer requires extreme simplification based on modernism; we have the tools in our hands to capture it all. What matters is how we can communicate with different audiences in a way that is accurate and understandable. That’s how we can create the cross-cultural, one-world, no-one-alienated world that modernism is all about.

So, the enquiry arises: 
How can a visual communicator fill the space with the visceral representation of sounds as a grammar of ‘symbol’?

In Bernhard Leitner’s SERPENTINATA, visitors gain a deep understanding of sound. The sound enters the head, travels down the shoulders and legs, and then moves back up again. It can travel a short or long distance, depending on the direction of the line, and this movement is visualised by overlapping it on SERPENTINATA.

Leitner’s way of interpreting sound is similar to the way to read sounds in my work with new sound symbols. Here is the reason. Why I refer to his work as important, because it helps us understand and visualise the spatiality of sound so well.

This phrase embarked on his idea of sound. Bernhard Leitner mentioned, “I can hear with my knee better than with my calves.” This phrase can be transferred to “Sounds can dominate the space by filling every part of the body” Leitner sees sounds as architecture, for highlighting this value. What about my view as a visual communicator?

For me, graphics mean every visual representation. As a graphic communicator, I aim to visualise the spatiality of sound. If there’s anything I can add to this work, it’s the ability to visualise or graphically represent sound, even in its absence.

Lightner understood sound as architecture, translating it into structures. However, sound is an indispensable component of his work because sound is architecture. As a graphic communicator, I wanted to approach it differently: the symbolising of sound to express spatiality without sound. That also can be mentioned, I want to hack the wonder of sound into graphics.

The study of symbols was essential for this process, as traditional musical notation systems are the most widely used to visualise sound. Through this inquiry, I concluded that in our current era of extreme simplification and lightweight influenced by modernism, symbols from other approaches also add valuable variety.

In this essay, I want to add the story of the sound source I used to create this symbol. I tried to expand on my idea through this sound source.  John Cage’s Water Walk is often referred to as a key piece of the Fluxus movement. One of the ideas of the Fluxus movement is to engage with the audience and trigger joy. This piece is based on interaction, including the audience’s laughter and unexpected noises in the space. The reason I chose this work was also influenced by SERPENTINATA. Leitner created a sound architecture that organically communicates with the audience, the people who appreciate his work. It shows that sound is a process that moves in space and is in constant communication with the audience. By drawing on these ideas, I aimed to visualise the spatiality of sound, similar to how ‘Water Walk’ and ‘SERPENTINATA’ demonstrate sound’s interactive and spatial nature.

Of course, the entire positions of my work and SERPENTINATA are different. Leitner understood sound as architecture and used it as a tool to show his world, whereas my symbols are studied to understand sound itself and how it can be represented viscerally and graphically.

However, I believe that both works share a similar position in the study of how we interpret sound. In conclusion, I hope that the new sound symbols I have studied will later serve as a medium through which we can discover and understand new values of sound.

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