Ba7.... Sound Matters Exhibition

Over the last couple of years, I have collected a wide range of leaflets and business cards from exhibitions and trades shows and have decided that it is more than overdue that I go through them, they are a vital part of my work!


The 'Sound Matters' exhibition is the current exhibition at Smiths Row art gallery, where I am completing my placement. As part of my first day of my work placement I was given an opportunity to explore this rather unique exhibition.

The exhibition is based on the connection between sound and the visual arts with a variety of pieces from, weaves based on sound waves to clay potters wheels with sound recordings creating marks in the clay. This exhibition is like any I have ever seen, anywhere let alone in this small gallery.

I have to admit though, that I did find the exhibition a little confusing. I suppose sometimes as students we lock ourselves into our little uni world and do not get the opportunity to see what others are doing. Because this is something that I had not seen or thought about before, it did take me a while to understand what was going on, but I feel it was extremely useful as a reminder of how open the arts are. We always compartmentalise our work, but many artists and designers are a lot more free in the way they think and work.



http://www.smithsrow.org/index.php/exhibitions/details/sound_matters/

Sound Lathe, Owl Project, 2005. Photo Tomas Rydin

Sound Matters, considers the connections between craft practice and sound art through seven contemporary works which have been selected and commissioned to illustrate ways in which these two distinct practices can collide.  Exploring the physicality of sound, the works are characterised by both their sonic properties and materiality.

Featuring works by Max Easterly, Keith Harrison, Cathy Lane, Owl Project, Scanner & Ismini Samanidou, Studio Weave and Dominic Wilcox & Yuri, the artists represented in this exhibition demonstrate how an engagement with sound also implicates an engagement with matter.  Drawn from across a range of creative disciplines, each work is indicative of a different approach looking to traditional craft heritage and processes such as weaving and wood turning to create new forms, playing with shared technologies and language, and revealing the sounds of materials.

With its equal emphasis on sound and form, Sound Matters offers a new and multi-sensory engagement with craft, with each work demanding to be heard as well as seen.  With work of varying scale and volume, it is as important to listen as to look to fully experience this exhibition.

Sound Matters is produced by the Crafts Council with David Toop, Professor of Audio Culture and Improvisation at the University of the Arts, London as Curatorial Advisor.

A Crafts Council Touring Exhibition.