Douce Mélancholie: Sonic Negotiations of Absence in the Works of Susan Philipsz and Félicia Atkinson

Abstract

Author(s): Wu, Jenny | Abstract: On July 5, 2019, French composer, poet, and publisher Felicia Atkinson released an experimental album titled The Flower and the Vessel. On September 16, 2019, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri, opened the exhibition Susan Philipsz: Seven Tears. By reflecting on these two contemporary sonic events through the lens of affect theory, this essay aims to explore the embodied experience of absence.