BOSTON– The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will open a thought-provoking, sound art exhibition this spring called, Listen Hear: The Art of Sound, featuring 12 artists and architects from around the world who use a broad range of approaches to sound art. Various forms of active listening will be explored in the Museum and in nearby neighborhoods for the exhibition, which opens March 8 and runs through Sept. 5, 2017.
Listen Hear will feature ten installations of sound art – eight designed to be experienced inside the Museum. The two others will be off-site, public art works: a free app that offers an immersive sound walk of the Back Bay Fens, the urban park system adjacent to the Museum; and a sound environment installed at the Ruggles MBTA transit station. Several works are conceived as site-specific installations for the Museum’s spaces including the Courtyard, the Dutch Room, the Tapestry Room and Hostetter Gallery, among others.
“These works are very diverse and reflect a growing and nuanced field. They are designed to inspire the public to listen and to become more aware of how sound affects us,” said Pieranna Cavalchini, the Museum’s Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art. “In this exhibition, we are exploring different modes of listening in interior and exterior spaces. Different techniques delve into acoustic mapping and real-time projections of sound across urban spaces. It’s an entirely new way of thinking about sound.”
Cavalchini co-curated the exhibition with Peggy Burchenal, Esther Stiles Eastman Curator of Education, and Charles Waldheim, Ruettgers Curator of Landscape.
Listen Hear will feature works by a dozen emerging and established artists and architects who approach the art of sound from various perspectives: visual arts, architecture, landscape, design, and music. Among them are: Philip Beesley, Toronto; Moritz Fehr, Berlin; David Grubbs, New York City; Elisa Hamilton, Arlington, MA; Ernst Karel, Boston; Lee Mingwei, Paris; Helen Mirra, San Francisco; O & A, (Bruce Odland, Hudson, NY and Sam Auinger, Berlin); Philippe Rahm, Paris; Teri Rueb, Buffalo, NY; Su-Mei Tse, Berlin.
In addition to the public art installations, the Gardner Museum is working in partnership with local artist Elisa Hamilton and community organizations in Roxbury and Mission Hill to produce a collaborative “sound lab” project, creating an interactive, community listening experience in Calderwood Hall.
Listen, Hear: The Art of Sound has received generous support from the Boston Foundation. The exhibition is also supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives funding from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as by the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. Additional support is provided by The Goethe-Institut Boston, Northeastern University, Haley House, and Emerald Necklace Conservancy. Media Sponsor: WBUR.
Located at 25 Evans Way in Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Thursdays until 9:00 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. Admission: Adults $15; Seniors $12; Students $5; Free for members, children under 18, everyone on his/her birthday, and all named “Isabella”.
