2017
In his 2017 article in Organised Sound, Riccardo Wanke explores a shift in
experimental music toward "ecstatic-materialism"—a perspective where sound is treated as a physical, immersive material rather than a temporal sequence.
You can access the full study through the Cambridge Core journal archive or on ResearchGate.
In his article The Emergence of an Ecstatic-materialist Perspective, published in Organised Sound (Vol. 22, No. 3), Riccardo Wanke defines a cross-genre approach to sound that unites disparate fields like post-spectralism, minimalism, and glitch.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Wanke's perspective shifts the focus from musical structure to "sound-in-itself" as a material mass.
Sound is treated as a dense, physical entity with specific textures, consistencies, and acoustic properties.
Refers to the instability of perception; the experience of sound causes the listener to "depart" from its material appearance into internal, often non-linear or meditative states of consciousness.
SciSpace
Wanke identifies sound art pioneer Max Neuhaus as a foundational figure for this movement. Neuhaus’s work is central to this perspective because:
- It moves music away from temporal "narrative" and toward a permanent or immersive spatial experience.
- It requires a "metaperceptual" stance where the listener's own body and position in space become part of the work.
ResearchGate