Janet Cardiff (CA), Mikael Ericsson (SE), Jonas Gazell (SE), Babette Mangolte (US), José Luis Martinat (PE), Ursula Nistrup (DK), Kirstine Roepstorff (DK), Vinyl, Terror- & Horror (DK)

Curator: Aukje Lepoutre Ravn

What is the relationship between sound and visual arts?
Is there such a thing as visual sound?
How can something immaterial acquire a shape and occupy space?
What is left when sound has faded away?

Röda Sten Konsthall is pleased to present this year’s summer exhibition Reverberations. Presenting sculpture, photography, sound, video and installation, the exhibition compiles a group of eight artists, all working with sound as a medium of reference. Taking cue from sources to sound such as nature, traffic, noise, voices, music, weather or even sheer imagination, Reverberations dives into a diverse universe of sound-related visual experiences.

With reference to its formal definition, the word reverberation describes “the prolongation of a sound after a sound is produced” – a type of resonance. A reverberation thus accumulates all reflected sounds in a space while taking a new shape. Referencing this phenomenon the exhibition Reverberations explores how sound is employed in relation to form, shape and architecture, but will also look and listen for ways in which sound embodies physical space and can be felt as a visceral experience.

Because we experience sound through our sensory perception, sound also has the potential to cause and create a tremendous impact on our emotional landscapes. As a result we become aware of just how powerful sound can be in evoking lasting personal memories, narratives and stories. Led on by one of sound art’s modern masterpieces – The Forty Part Motet by Canadian artist Janet Cardiff – Reverberations essentially seeks to explore the very notions of sound’s afterlife and its echoing visual universe.

Quotes by curator Aukje Lepoutre Ravn:

“Sound is a vast immaterial occurrence – a phenomenon so eternally present in our everyday lives, yet completely intangible. Sounds accompany us in everything we do and therefore confirms our existence – when we walk through cities or landscapes, have conversations or even when we dream. When things are silent we make up our inner soundtracks, connecting our experiences of sound, image and space with how we remember events. Ultimately sound plays a fundamental role in constituting our identities”.

“Reverberations tries to give entries to how we understand sound’s connection to our imagination and inner worlds, and seeks to convey how sound creates ways for personal experiences to shape either our individual or collective fantasies and memories.”