Exhibition
Soundings: A Contemporary Score
August 10–November 3, 2013
MoMA's first major exhibition of sound art presents work by 16 of the most innovative contemporary artists working with sound. While these artists approach sound from a variety of disciplinary angles—the visual arts, architecture, performance, computer programming, and music—they share an interest in working with, rather than against or independent of, material realities and environments. These artistic responses range from architectural interventions, to visualizations of otherwise inaudible sound, to an exploration of how sound ricochets within a gallery, to a range of field recordings—including echolocating bats, abandoned buildings in Chernobyl, 59 bells in New York City, and a sugar factory in Taiwan.
The diversity of these works reflects a complex and nuanced field. Yet the exhibition posits something specific: that how we listen determines what we hear. Indeed, the works provoke and evoke—both in the maker and the museumgoer—modes of active listening, and a heightened relationship between interior and exterior space. At a time when personal listening devices and tailored playlists have become ubiquitous, shared aural spaces are increasingly rare. Many of the artists in the exhibition aim for such realities, and the sound they create is decidedly social, immersing visitors and connecting them in space. In many of the works, links are drawn between disparate topographies and subjects, giving rise to new understanding and experiences.
The artists in the exhibition are Luke Fowler (Scottish, b. 1978), Toshiya Tsunoda (Japanese, b. 1964), Marco Fusinato (Australian, b. 1964), Richard Garet (Uruguayan, b. 1972), Florian Hecker (German, b. 1975), Christine Sun Kim (American, b. 1980), Jacob Kirkegaard (Danish, b. 1975), Haroon Mirza (British, b. 1977), Carsten Nicolai (German, b. 1965), Camille Norment (American, b. 1970), Tristan Perich (American, b. 1982), Susan Philipsz (Scottish, b. 1965), Sergei Tcherepnin (American, b. 1981), Hong-Kai Wang (Taiwanese, b. 1971), Jana Winderen (Norwegian, b. 1965), and Stephen Vitiello (American, b. 1964).
Artists
Tristan Perich
Tristan Perich. Microtonal Wall. 2011. 1,500 1-bit speakers, microprocessors, aluminum. Installation at InterAccess Gallery, Toronto, 2012. Courtesy the artist
Microtonal Wall is made up of 1,500 very simple one-bit speakers, tuned individually to create an intricately varied continuum of pitch, rendering this twenty-five-foot wall a spectrum of sound. Perich has explained, “Each listener's exploration of that aural space shapes what they hear, from the totality of white noise (from a distance), to the single frequency of each speaker (up close).” This near-endless variation “opens the scope of the piece to the entire universe, since only from an infinite distance would we be equidistant to each speaker, though in that case they would also have zero volume, and we would be very far from home.”
Tristan Perich. Microtonal Wall. 2011. 1,500 1-bit speakers, microprocessors, aluminum. Installation at InterAccess Gallery, Toronto, 2012. Courtesy the artist
Tristan Perich. Microtonal Wall. 2011. 1,500 1-bit speakers, microprocessors, aluminum. Installation at InterAccess Gallery, Toronto, 2012. Courtesy the artist
Tristan Perich. Microtonal Wall. 2011. 1,500 1-bit speakers, microprocessors, aluminum. Installation at Lydgalleriet, Bergen, 2011. Courtesy the artist
Tristan Perich. Microtonal Wall. 2011. Audio sculpture: 1,500 1-bit speakers, microprocessors, aluminum. Collection the artist and Bitforms Gallery, New York
