Sound is a medium that has been increasingly gaining ground in the visual arts of recent decades, despite the fact that this, at the most basic level, seems to contradict the concept of visual art. The expansion of sound in time, and in its own abstraction, appears different from visual information that is organized into a single image or a sculptural work of art. The almost complete withdrawal of visuality makes for a markedly pronounced effect, even in comparison to such other time-bound genres as, for instance, performance or video art.

Sound installations often contain, as a defining component, field recordings made in external locations – which, in finished works of art, can usually be heard in a modified form. As the artist introduces recorded and replayed noises into the exhibition space, these are re-encountered – or encountered for the first time – by the viewer.

Today’s sound recording technologies enable us to reproduce sounds that would otherwise remain imperceptible, either because they comprise part of our everyday sound-environment, or because they cannot be registered by the human ear without artificial amplification. The exhibition plans to feature works that reflect on the confines of the senses, primarily focusing on the perception of sound.

The structure of sound as a medium is elementary as its impact on sensibility is direct. In contrast to visual media sound is not suitable for the mediation of symbolic or metaphoric contents but drives the attention to basic questions such as perception. The exhibition plans to feature works that reflect on the confines of the senses, primarily focusing on the perception of sound. Műcsarnok’s exhibition spaces will house sound installations from recent decades, with the participation of Hungarian and international artists. Some of them approach their subject and the method of realization from a musical, some from a fine art point of view but there are conceptual approaches as well.

hans w. koch’s interests, who visualizes the circle of fifths with an interactive installation, differ from those of Bernhard Gál, the Austrian artist and musicologist who mixes idiosyncratically the sounds of his own home with associations engendered by the story of Alsógalla and the Turul bird. Christian Skjødt’s fragile and subtle installation, consisting of more than 200 loudspeakers, sonifies the light that comes in through the roof windows of the Kunsthalle, while the darkened exhibition room where Gergő Nagy’s soundscape is installed can only be visited by one person at a time, who can get closer to their own perception. Arturas Bumšteinas brings the sound of wind machines used in baroque theatres to the Kunsthalle, while the the Binaura group’s interactive system is constantly rearranged by the very act of observation. With The Shape of Ideas, Gyula Várnai experiments with reconstructing a form of movement with the help of sound effects: the imaginary trajectory of an arrow is traced by loudspeakers suspended in space, shaped like impressive sculptures. Gerardo Nolasco Magaña’s work is the opposite of Várnai’s in its dimensions: a small speaker is hidden on a tree, close to the entrance of the Kunsthalle, reproducing the singing of the quetzal, a bird native to Central-America. Carsten Stabenow’s minimalism is similar; he displays a single piano string of his installation, though there’s much more hidden under the roof, from where the string gains its resonance. Jozef Cseres and Jon Rose guide the visitors through the challenging history of the Rosenbergs, with a compilation made specifically for the Kunsthalle. Thanos Chrysakis’s new soundscape was also created for this occasion.

What we had in mind is a medium-specific – but also thematic – exhibition, which, in addition to the possible applications of the medium of sound in visual arts, also thematizes various aspects of how we perceive the outside world.

In Hungary, exhibitions exploring the role of sound in visual art and presenting sound installations have only been held sporadically. Thus, On the Edge of Perceptibility–Sound Art, offering Hungarian artists – some of whom are less known – an opportunity to introduce their work, while also presenting the latest artwork of a few international artists as well.

Curated by Zsolt Sőrés

Courtesy of Műcsarnok

http://www.mucsarnok.hu/