List of sound artists

This is a list of sound artists. Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There is contention as to which artists are “sound artists” or if another category might be more accurate such as experimental music, electronic music, sound installation, circuit bending, sound sculpture, builder of experimental musical instruments, noise music, acoustic ecology, sound poetry, installation art, performance art or Fluxus.^[1][2][3][4]

The category “sound art” is relatively new and it is difficult to justify excluding any artist who uses sound (as opposed to standard definitions of music) and listening as a significant element in their art from this field. Whether or not an artist has achieved sufficient renown is difficult as accolades are seldom in the area of sound art, but in other categories (visual art, music, design, etc.).

Published material on sound art is sparse. Scottish artist Susan Philipsz's 2010 British Turner Prize win for her piece 'Lowlands' was the first time a work of sound art won this prize and highlighted the genre's blurred boundaries with other, more visual artforms.

AGF Alejandra and Aeron Miguel Álvarez-Fernández Maryanne Amacher Charles Amirkhanian Laurie Anderson Magali Babin William Basinski Pierre Bastien Harry Bertoia Jaap Blonk Baschet Brothers MW Burns Ken Butler Janet Cardiff Lawrence Chandler Richard Chartier Walton Creel Lance Dann Tacita Dean Poulomi Desai Chantal Dumas Judy Dunaway Kyle Bobby Dunn eRikm Christian Fennesz Bill Fontana Terry Fox Bernhard Gal Reed Ghazala Kraig Grady Ken Gregory Brenda Hutchinson Ryoji Ikeda Christopher Janney

Miranda July Nana April Jun GX Jupitter-Larsen Timo Kahlen Jacob Kirkegaard David Kristian Georg Klein Viacheslav Koleichuk Christina Kubisch Petri Kuljuntausta Yuri Landman Jørgen Larsson Georges Lentz Augustine Leudar Arto Lindsay Francisco López Christian Marclay Miya Masaoka Stephan Mathieu Abinadi Meza Christof Migone George Bures Miller Haroon Mirza Moondog David Monacchi Meredith Monk Tracie Morris Charlotte Moorman Bruce Nauman Max Neuhaus Carsten Nicolai Mendi & Keith Obadike Yoko Ono Koka Nikoladze Nam June Paik’s early work pre-1970 and with Charlotte Moorman Charlemagne Palestine

Paul Panhuysen Tristan Perich Norbert Walter Peters Liz Phillips Susan Philipsz Hans Reichel Boyd Rice Pipilotti Rist Manuel Rocha Iturbide Paul Rooney Janek Schaefer Stan Shaff Severed Heads Don Simmons Elliott Sharp George Smits Michael Snow Soundlab Rod Summers Takis Jeff Talman Robert Scott Thompson Jean Tinguely Yasunao Tone Trimpin Thomas Truax David Van Tieghem Stephen Vitiello Carl Michael von Hausswolff Bill Viola Wolf Vostell Yoshi Wada Hildegard Westerkamp Mark Peter Wright LaMonte Young Pavel Zhagun Z'EV Zimoun

Notes

1. N.B. Aldrich. 2003. What is Sound Art? Albany: Electronic Music Foundation website.
2. Kenneth Goldsmith. 2004. Bring Da Noise: A Brief Survey of Sound Art. New York: American Music Center.
3. Scott Wilson. 2006. “Boundaries and Definitions: The SoundAsArt Conference, Aberdeen Scotland (24–26 November, 2006).” eContact! 9.2 — Canadian Regions: The Prairies (March 2007). Montréal: CEC.
4. Alan Licht. 2007. Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories. New York: Rizzoli.