The Kimball Art Center is diving into the sonic art of audio.
“(Re)sounding,” an exhibit featuring the works of 15 artists, is now open through Sept. 13, said Curator Nancy Stoaks.
“I’ve always been intrigued by artists who use materials and mediums that are a little outside the box and allow you to look at the world in different ways,” she said. “Artists who are engaged in sound are exactly that. They are using this everyday material that we’re surrounded by, and we often don’t notice the nuances of how those sounds affect us in so many ways.”
Exhibit artists are Emmy and two-time Peabody Award–winning media artist Jon Bernson, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Maria Chávez, Spencer Finch, Jónsi from Sigur Rós, Christine Sun Kim, Jacob Kirkegaard, Tuomas A. Laitinen, Christian Marclay, Milad Mozari, Andy Rappaport, Yuri Suzuki and Mary Toscano & Andrew Rease Shaw.
Stoaks noted that Mozari, Toscano and Rease Shaw hail from Salt Lake City.
“It’s a great group,” she said. “And it’s nice to have some Utah-based artists alongside national and international artists.”
When most people think of sound art, they think of music, according to Stoaks.
“A lot of artists in the show have deep connections to music,” she said. “They might have started off in that arena but, through their practice, began making more conceptual art. So, I was excited to put together this group exhibition that goes in so many directions and opens our eyes and ears to the world of sound around us.”
In order to properly set up the exhibit, Stoaks thought about each of the Kimball Art Center’s display rooms to figure out which works and artists would complement each other.
“It was clear that there were a number of different themes that connected the works,” she said.
One of those themes is sound and its relationship to communication, translation and echos. Another theme focuses on the physical and spatial aspects of sound, while another theme is about how sound can be translated into visual and sculptural forms.
“Sound has always been something I’ve been drawn to,” Stoaks said. “I studied 20th century art from 1913 with Marcel Duchamp. Throughout the century artists started to notice sound more and more and made it a part of their work. Artists like John Cage or Max Neuhaus, who were connecting us with sound in new ways. So the exhibit is a mix that ranges from video installation to interactive pieces that are fun and exciting.”
One of the exhibit rooms focuses on communication and features works in part by Christine Sun Kim, who is an artist who is deaf, Stoaks said.
“She makes work that thinks about the social and political aspects of sound and how our world is centered around people who can traditionally hear,” she said. “Then we have Milad Mozari who makes work that thinks about his communication with his father and the echoing of the phrases they both say by giving them a visual characteristic.”
The room also features work by Andy Rappaport that was inspired by the late singer-songwriter Lou Reed, according to Stoaks.
“It uses the vocabulary and syntax of the rhythm of the Lou Reed, with meaningless word combinations,” she said.
Then there’s an interactive piece by Yuri Suzuki.
“You can toggle switches to create ambient sounds that are most pleasing to you,” Stoaks said.
Speaking of interactive works, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller took photos of letters from storefronts in London and spelled out “Love, Love, Love,” Stoaks said.
“Their work plays with the sounds of the letters and different harmonies, so when you press the buttons together the sounds resemble the Beatles’ song, ‘All You Need Is Love,’” she said.
Some of the exhibit pieces examine spatial and physical sound environments.
“Tuomas A. Laitinen, a Finnish artist, uses ultrasonic, hyper-directional speakers that provide beams of sounds,” she said. “So, as you walk around the room, you can hear the sounds coming from above you or behind you. And we used a blue LED light to transform the space into an alternate realm.”
Another light installation in the exhibit is by Spencer Finch, who makes works about light and color in “ephemeral experiences,” Stoaks said.
“He thinks scientifically and poetically, so there is interesting tension in the work that can be exact in the experience of light and color,” she said.
Finch’s piece, “Study for Goldberg Variations 17,” is part of a larger body of work where he took inspiration from J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations composition from 1741.
“Spencer translated the music into color by using Isaac Newton’s theory of color,” she said. “And if the note was held longer, the color space was extended.”
In another room, Jon Bernson’s “Portable Wetland Museum” rings through three suspended vintage cassette tape players, Stoaks said.
“Each of the tape decks plays something different,” she said. “One is a tape of lectures where people talk about wetlands. Another is field recordings for wetland wildlife and that sort of thing. And the other is this score that he composed.”
The tapes play in tandem, according to Stoaks.
“So each time these tapes run, people will hear a different combination of these elements and experience different engagements with this technology,” she said. “We are also going to install Jon’s ‘Portable Glacier Museum’ installation at the entry way of the Kimball Art Center to set the mood for the exhibit.”
One installation is a blanket made from 473 mini speakers by Jónsi, lead vocalist and guitarist of the Icelandic experimental rock band, Sigur Rós, Stoaks said.
“He looks at how sound can provide a safe space and wrap around you like a blanket,” she said. “The sounds that will come out of these speakers are a combination of field recordings of birds, crackling fires and the artist whispering.”
Speaking of blankets, the installation by Mary Toscano and her partner, Andrew Rease Shaw, are quilts, Stoaks said.
“Mary was working on some quilts, and Andew noticed the patterns had an incredible relationship to synthesizer waves,” she said. “From that, they started this collaboration, which is the first time they’ve collaborated, and a number of quilts display a sonic component that has been composed by Andrew.”
During the creative process, sometimes Toscano would start making quilt panels, while Rease Shaw responded, and sometimes Rease Shaw would start things, Stoaks said.
“They will also be part of some programming associated with the exhibit,” she said. “They’ll host some listening sessions.”
Another programming event will be a sound bath through the Kimball Art Center’s partnership with Mountain Town Music.
Although Stoak’s favorite room in the exhibit features Laitinen’s, ultrasonic, hyper-directional speakers, she enjoys all the works.
“This has been a fun one to put together because it is a totally different exhibition that we haven’t done before,” she said. “We’re all surrounded by these sounds, and sound is a social thing that is also very accessible.”
‘(Re)sounding’
- When: Through Sept. 13
- Where: Kimball Art Center, 1251 Kearns Blvd.
- Phone: 435-649-8882
- Web: kimballartcenter.org
