2014
In her article "Spatiality and Public Art: Thoughts on Sound and Urban Space" (2014), María Andueza utilizes Max Neuhaus's work to discuss how sound art redefines urban spaces, transforming the city into a social and sculptural environment. Read the article at ucm.es.
Andueza frames Neuhaus’s work through the following spatial concepts:
She argues that Neuhaus’s Times Square (1977) creates a monumentality without materiality. By placing sound under a subway grate, Neuhaus claims a piece of the city's infrastructure, turning a functional transit zone into a site of aesthetic contemplation.
Andueza notes that Neuhaus’s "Sound Works" shift the focus from a central art object to the periphery of the listener's perception. This aligns perfectly with Blake Johnston’s "metaperceptual" framework, where the artwork is not the sound itself, but the listener’s realization of their own sensory presence within the urban grid.
Like Gilles Malatray's "walking notes," Andueza suggests that Neuhaus’s work requires the public to "map" the sound through movement. The spatial limits of the artwork are defined only by the physical reach of the sound waves and the body's movement through them.
Social vs. Physical Space: She explores how Neuhaus’s "invisible architecture" creates a private experience within a highly public social space. This tension is what makes the work "political" in the sense described by Guillaume Faburel—it offers a moment of subjective autonomy in a managed environment.