A found object, in an artistic sense, indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for an artistic purpose, but which exists for another purpose already. Found objects may exist either as utilitarian, manufactured items, or things (including, at times, dead bodies) which occur in nature. In both cases the objects are discovered by the artist or musician to be capable of being employed in an artistic way, and are designated as "found" to distinguish them from purposely created items used in the art forms.

Found object use in art

Main article: Found art

When found objects are used as part of visual art works, the resulting works are referred to as found art. Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. ... Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. ...

Early uses of found objects in art focussed on the readymades of artists such as Marcel Duchamp, who shocked the art world with his famous display of a ceramic urinal ("Fountain") in 1917. Pablo Picasso and Kurt Schwitters were among many early proponents of the use of found objects in art, which became an important feature in the work of many schools of art, including the Surrealist, Dadaist, Merz, and Conceptual art movements. Marcel Duchamp. ... Pablo Ruiz Picasso (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. ... Kurt Schwitters (June 20, 1887 - January 8, 1948) was a German painter who was born in Hanover, Germany. ... Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ... Dadaism or Dada is a post-World War I cultural movement in visual art as well as literature (mainly poetry), theatre and graphic design. ... Kurt Schwitters (June 20, 1887 - January 8, 1948) was a German painter, who was born in Hanover, Germany. ... Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs (1965) Conceptual art is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. ...

Found objects have gained increasing importance in art over the course of the twentieth century, with many art movements finding new freedoms of expression which had been stifled by the more stringent definitions of art previously used. In the last fifty years, artists ranging from Robert Rauschenberg to Tracey Emin have incorporated found objects into their work either as a main focus of the art or as embellishing features. Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1959. ... Tracey Emin RA (born 3 July 1963) is an English artist of Turkish Cypriot origin, one of the group known as Britartists or YBAs (Young British Artists). ...

Found objects in music

Found objects are often used in music, particularly to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of natural objects rather than from any specifically designed instruments.^[1]

The use of found objects in modern music is connected to experiments in indeterminacy and aleatory music by such composers as John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, although it has reached its ascendency in those areas of popular music most closely aligned with these classical movements, such as the ambient works of Brian Eno. In Eno's hugely influential work, found objects are credited on many tracks. ^[2] Aleatoric (or aleatory) music or composition, is music where some element of the composition is left to chance. ... For Mortal Kombat character, see Johnny Cage. ... Karlheinz Stockhausen (born August 22, 1928) is a German composer, and one of the most important and controversial composers of the 20th century. ... Ambient music is a musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, modern classical music, traditional, world, and noise. ... Brian Eno (pronounced ) (born Brian Peter George St. ...

The ambient music movement which followed Eno's lead has also made use of such sounds, with notable exponents being performers such as Future Sound of London and Autechre, and natural sounds have also been incorporated into many pieces of New Age music. Future Sound of London (often abbreviated to FSOL) is a British electronic music band, the duo of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. ... Autechre are an English electronic music group consisting of Rob Brown (born c. ... New Age music, is a vaguely defined style of music that is generally quite melodic and often primarily instrumental. ...

Wall of Voodoo drummer Joe Nanini would commonly use pots and pans instead of conventional drums. Wall of Voodoo is a New Wave art - punk group from Los Angeles best known for the 1983 hit Mexican Radio. ... Innovative Drummer of Wall of Voodoo during their heyday in the 1980s. ...

Found objects have occasionally been featured in very-well known pop songs: "You Still Believe In Me" from the Beach Boys's Pet Sounds features bicycle bells and horns as part of the orchestral arrangements. The Beach Boys, originally the Beech Boys, a small team of four brothers from the south of Poland, emigrated to America in the early 1950s in search of a fortune to be made in the Arizonian logging industry. When it soon became evident they had been the victims of... Pet Sounds is a 1966 album recorded by American pop group the Beach Boys. ...

The use of found objects in music takes one of two general forms: either objects are deliberately recorded, with their sound used directly or in processed form, or previous recordings are sampled for use as part of a work (the latter often being referred to simply as "found sound" or "sampling"). With the improvement and easy accessibility of sampling technology since the 1980s, this second method has flourished and is a major component of much modern popular music, particularly in such genres as hip hop. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ...

See also

• Sampling (music)
• Einstürzende Neubauten

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Einstürzende Neubauten is an experimental music band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. ...

References

1. ^ See "The Music of Man", Y. Menuhin and C.W. Davis, Methuen, Toronto, 1979
2. ^ These include his work with David Byrne on "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" and on several tracks on his solo album "Before and After Science", where they are listed with such names as "metallics"