Sound in exhibitions

The Beall Center at UC Irvine has used (clear) plastic inverted domes
(suspended from the ceiling), fitted with speakers, for limiting the
range of sound for installations that need to be controlled or are
visually/conceptually tied to a specific space in the gallery.
ryan

On Nov 18, 2004, at 5:20 AM, Seth Thompson wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The use of sound is sometimes very controversial within a museum
> exhibition–especially when multiple works have a sound element. I
> was wondering if you could describe some of the innovative ways that
> museums and galleries have handled sound within a museum/gallery
> environment without compromising the works. Please let me know at
> your earliest convenience. Thanks in advance.

The safest bet, for me, has always been to build separate "rooms" for works with sound, or to place things with sound as far from each other as possible. I suppose that's a bit obvious, though. Not as thoughtful as the Beall..

When the artist is ok with it, I frequently offer headphones for, say, video pieces with an important sound component.

If it is appropriate, it is also nice to offer sound recordings in catalogues, so that pieces can be listened to in different spaces & contexts.

Of course, the issue is complicated. How site-specific is the work? What "embodiment" or "immersion" conditions does it ask for? How reasonable is it (not) to separate the sound from the "rest" of the peice, by capturing & distributing recordings?

Marisa

ryan griffis <[email protected]> wrote:
The Beall Center at UC Irvine has used (clear) plastic inverted domes
(suspended from the ceiling), fitted with speakers, for limiting the
range of sound for installations that need to be controlled or are
visually/conceptually tied to a specific space in the gallery.
ryan

On Nov 18, 2004, at 5:20 AM, Seth Thompson wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The use of sound is sometimes very controversial within a museum
> exhibition–especially when multiple works have a sound element. I
> was wondering if you could describe some of the innovative ways that
> museums and galleries have handled sound within a museum/gallery
> environment without compromising the works. Please let me know at
> your earliest convenience. Thanks in advance.

+
-> post: [email protected]
-> questions: [email protected]
-> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
-> give: http://rhizome.org/support
-> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
+
Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php


———————————
Do you Yahoo!?
The all-new My Yahoo!

I would throw in that you should avoid those new "hypersonic directional"
speakers - we bought a couple to play sound art here - not only do they
sound like crap but it creeps me out that the military uses them at higher
power to split heads in riot control and such.

Kevin Hamilton
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign