"Sound/Mindscapes" Exhibition

Finished

Humans are animals that prioritize the visual sense. We look at each other's faces and bodies, films and advertisements, scenery in the park; and get disappointed at the prospect of the non-view from a subway train. When we see something in front of our eyes, we recognize only specific objects - and ignore the rest, even though they are in our field of vision. This is the difference between the "world" and "seeing the world." In this sense, artists may be said to be experts and creating work out of this accumulated store of impressions of the world, largely through a process of selecting what one sees in the world. Landscape paintings and photographs that capture machines differ in that the former embodies a sort of judgment of artistic taste that reflects the "landscape of the mind". This however tends to lead us to forget that sound is an equally important sense.

This exhibition and related series of workshops will investigate the power of sound to awaken and stir up memories. How are the situational sounds that surround us connected to our interior worlds, our past and present? Through art-related processes, we choose passions, attachments and hatreds. Are things worth remembering and basing memories on fixed or predetermined? How are hearing people and hearing machines different? Although we listen to the sounds made by the things that surround us, do those things hear something back from us? Are there everyday objects that can hear, listen, like or dislike something, remember or recall?

Through a consideration of these questions, this program aims to develop and promote creative activity that reassesses our powers of perception.

See website for full schedule of talks and events.

Schedule

Nov 26 (Wed) 2008-Dec 7 (Sun) 2008