Sound/Image Festival Exhibition 2024

  • 9 November - 7 December 2024
  • TBC
  • Stephen Lawrence Gallery, Project Space

Exhibitors

Maya Chowdhry: Stone Circle Transmission; Cameron Clarke:The Veil; Anqi Deng: Safe Box; Christian Dimpker: N. 33 Holistic notation study I {Granular visions}; Gin (Jing Chang): Petit Violence #1: Breath; Daniel Alexander Hignell-Tully: WAD for 5 Digitally Prepared Pianos; Étienne Lavallée: Granby nature rayonnante; Aidan Lochrin: The Death of Arcadia; Mhairi Vari: Zone of middle dimensions (swerving matter); Rebecca Waterworth: Listening Forms – Land Bells; Julie Watkins: Weathered; Garling Wu & Clovis McEvoy: 皇潮King Tide.

Exhibiting Groups

Analema: KAMI Noise Map, KAMI Colour; MA Digital Arts / MA Music & Sound Design: 60 Second Shorts

Oskar Fischinger, pioneer of visual sound, pointed to an inherent link between sound, image and the essence of being: “Everything in the world has a spirit which is released by its sound”. The Sound/Image exhibition presents a wide array of such visual, visceral expressions of sound, encapsulating the complex relationships between the sound and the image. More than a dozen artists from diverse backgrounds across the globe present their practices – with shifting conceptional focus. They share an aspiration to ask questions about the rich multi-sensory connections between sound and image, touching on the physical, cultural, and multisensory qualities of sound and image. 

Both sound and image are often social, political, collective and shared experiences  and yet they remain deeply personal. Phenomenologist philosopher, Merleau-Ponty stated that “(..) there is an objective sound which reverberates outside me in the instrument, an atmospheric sound which is between the object and my body, a sound which vibrates in me (..) and finally (..) the highly precise experience of a change permeating my whole body” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945). Contemporary artists such as Sondra Perry point to the politics of the sound-image, not just of the audible, but also the sounds of silences, the voices that aren’t heard, the stories that are not told. 

From representation through sound and image, spaces and places of belonging, memory, to health, and its grounded-ness in our environment, this exhibition aims to open up a discourse around the points of connections. Represented artists ask a range of pressing questions: How can sounds connect us with our environment and cultural heritage? Can sound and image evoke changing notions of the domestic in the wake of the Internet of Things? How does urban noise affect our health, learning and wellbeing? -and can the sound-image help to raise awareness for such global issues? Cross- and multimodal synergies between sound, image and the tactile are presented to be explored interactively. 

Artists presenting their work share an almost forensic, analytical focus with each other, presenting sound and image as embodied, intersubjective, culturally significant experiences. The body as political, attentive sensory locus operandi remains at the centre of the artworks and their experience. The resulting journey through sound and image invites the audience to reflect, to absorb, to interrogate, and, importantly, to enjoy with all their senses.

Text: Oliver Gingrich 2024

Exhibiting Group Members

Analema: Evgenia Emets, Alain Renaud, David Negrao and Olive Gingrich

MA Digital Arts / MA Music & Sound Design: Sanzida Mahbub; Khan Esha; Lacidre; Mafalda dos Santos; Roman Poplutz; Andy Iverson; Paulina Kompanovych; Sofia Pesco; Shivon Hanfler; Maria Karagkiaouri; Mustafa Taha; Chia-Shan Tsai. Curated by Jim Hobbs

Related Events & Exhibitions

  • Sound/Image Festival 2024

    • 7 November - 10 November 2024
    • 10 am - 8pm daily
    • Stephen Lawrence Gallery, Project Space

    Mediated Spaces and Immersion

    Concerts / Performances / Screenings . . .