While we naturally think of sound being transmitted to our ears through the air, the contact microphone captures the sounds carried through other materials, allowing them to be transmitted through the air. One of the most interesting traits sound artists share is a drastically different relationship to their audiences than either composers or sculptors. It's like a puzzle - I give them the single pieces, and then they can make their own composition with them, by the way they're moving. In that sense the Situasies were not just a metaphor of reality, they were metaphor and reality at the same time. In a good Situasie art unlocked the inhibitions of the audience.
Sound art seems an optimal media for a non-hierarchical, participatory mode.
It has a visceral, physical presence, yet often requires actions from individuals to produce sounds. It breaks down the distinctions between artist and audience via hybridization of the presentation. Each of these discussed traits exists singly in the forms of expression with which we are all familiar. A sound art work can be any of many combinations of these qualities. The tendency to blur the boundaries between the realms is one of sound art's greatest strengths.