ABSTRACT
The emphasis that both participatory art and participatory culture put on creative making as part of the aesthetic experience make pragmatist aesthetics an obvious choice of theoretical framework. Both phenomena problematise the notion of autonomy of art by being either fully or partially embedded in the order of the everyday and oftentimes rejecting the disinterestedness of artmaking. This chapter focuses on how the aesthetic value of participatory sonic experimentation is produced through emergent socialities that it facilitates and mediates. Soundmaking in such performances is a social activity, more so than purely aesthetic one, resulting in more horizontal structures, where participation is encouraged and differences in musical skill, downplayed. By pulling out the frame of reference for aesthetic judgement, experimental sounds level the playing field with regard to the participants’ musical skills and cultural backgrounds, inviting horizontal interactions, and shaping emergent communities across social divides.
