INDUSTRY WK 6: Sound and Installation
- Mar 18
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 8
Sound has become an important material within contemporary installation practice, shifting how exhibitions are experienced beyond the visual. Rather than functioning as background, sound operates as a spatial and temporal medium that shapes emotional response. Archiving and curating sound involves not only preserving audio recordings, but also understanding how sound carries cultural, historical, and sensory information. Archiving sound is about capturing and maintaining sonic material so it can be accessed and reused over time. Institutions such as the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia demonstrate that sound archives extend beyond music or spoken word. They include environmental recordings, oral histories, broadcast media, and experimental compositions. These collections function as cultural memory and creative resource.
Curating sound requires a different approach to traditional exhibition-making. Unlike visual objects, sound unfolds over time and often lacks a fixed position. Curators must therefore consider acoustics, spatial layout, and audience movement. Sound can bleed between spaces, overlap with other works, or shift depending on where the listener stands. As a result, curating sound becomes a process of designing an environment rather than simply placing works within a room.
Pairing sound with exhibitions expands the interpretive possibilities of visual art. Sound may guide attention or create atmosphere. It can also introduce narrative elements, such as voice recordings or field sounds, that extend the meaning of visual work. Importantly, sound can alter how time is perceived within an exhibition. While visual artworks are often encountered briefly, sound encourages duration. Audiences may pause, listen, and become more aware of their own presence within the space. This creates a more embodied experience, where listening becomes an active process. In some cases, sound is interactive, responding to movement or participation, further dissolving the boundary between artwork and viewer.
Every Dull Moment (EDM) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is an exhibition that looks at how artists respond to digital culture and the patterns of everyday life. It brings together video, installation, and multimedia works that reflect on how technology shapes the way we pay attention and experience time through daily routines.
Sound is a key part of the exhibition and is used to build an immersive environment rather than sitting in the background. Elements like electronic music, ambient noise, voices, and looping tracks create a sense of rhythm and atmosphere throughout the space. These sounds often repeat or layer, echoing the repetitive nature of scrolling, notifications, and digital habits.
Buffenstein's article surveys twelve contemporary sound artists who are expanding how sound is understood within art. It highlights practices that move beyond traditional music, using sound as installation, performance, and conceptual material.
This documentary shows how Gotye created Eyes Wide Open by combining field recordings, traditional instruments, and studio production. It follows his process of recording sounds from the "musical fence" in Winton and transforming them into the foundation of the track. The video highlights how sampling, layering, and collaboration shape the final song, demonstrating how environmental sound can be turned into a structured musical and conceptual composition.
Sound in Space: Adventures in Australian Sound Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia was an exhibition focused on how Australian artists use sound within installation. It presented sound as something that exists in and interacts with space, rather than as isolated audio. The works explored how sound travels, overlaps, and responds to architecture, encouraging audiences to move through the exhibition and experience sound as a physical, changing presence.
This story focuses on Jlin, an experimental electronic artist known for her complex rhythms and innovative sound. The project B12–JLIN: Sampling the Collection at the Powerhouse Museum explores how she uses sounds from the museum’s collection to create new music. By sampling objects and recordings, she transforms historical materials into contemporary sound, showing how archives can be reinterpreted creatively.
This video presents a sound artwork by Martin Creed where a lift at the Southbank Centre is transformed into a musical installation. As the lift moves, it produces layered vocal tones that rise or fall in pitch depending on the direction and speed of travel. What is normally a simple, everyday experience becomes interactive and unexpected, encouraging people to notice sound, space, and movement in a new way.
Lisa introduced us to Play Me Mend Me by Anita Johnson, a sculptural artwork that can also be played as a musical instrument. Made from found and personal materials like an unfinished violin, a crutch, and a tobacco tin, the piece explores ideas of injury, healing, and repair. Performed by Jane Aubourg, the work connects sound with the physical experience of chronic pain, turning the act of playing into a reflection on the body and recovery.
Lesley introduced us to Tina Havelock Stevens' exhibition, !! (2025) that she saw recently at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The installation explores how people physically and emotionally respond to the world around them. The work combines sculpture with a recorded drum-based soundscape made in the Gallery's Tank space. Using her drum kit in different ways, as an instrument, object, and tool, the artist creates an environment focused on rhythm, place, and human connection, encouraging visitors to pause and connect with the space and each other.
Bloody Fist Records is an independent electronic music label known for its raw and underground sound. Founded in Newcastle, Australia, in 1994, it became influential in shaping hardcore techno, industrial, and experimental electronic music scenes. The label focuses on DIY production, lo-fi aesthetics, and pushing against mainstream music norms, supporting artists who experiment with unconventional sound.
Boards of Canada are known for creating atmospheric electronic music that feels nostalgic and slightly dreamlike. Their sound often blends soft beats, analogue textures, and distorted samples to evoke memory, landscape, and emotion. Dayvan Cowboy, from the album The Campfire Headphase (2005), reflects this style.
Liquid Architecture is an Australian organisation focused on experimental sound and listening practices. It supports artists who work with sound in creative and unconventional ways, including performance, installation, and research. Through festivals, public programs, and commissions, it brings together artists, musicians, and audiences to explore how sound shapes culture, space, and social experience.
References:
Art Gallery of New South Wales 2024, Every Dull Moment (EDM), Art Gallery of New South Wales, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/edm/>. (Figure 2)
Art Gallery of New South Wales 2024, Tina Havelock Stevens, Art Gallery of New South Wales, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/tina-havelock-stevens/>. (Figure 6)
Aubourg, J 2023, Introducing “Play Me Mend Me”, online video, YouTube, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/iBENh_tyeSQ>. (Video 3)
Bloody Fist Records n.d, Bloody Fist Records, Bandcamp, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://bloodyfistrecords.bandcamp.com/>. (Figure 7)
Boards of Canada 2024, Boards of Canada – Dayvan Cowboy, online video, YouTube, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/Ng2vTXxnD20>. (Video 4)
Buffenstein, A 2016, 12 sound artists changing your perception of art, Artnet, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/12-sound-artists-changing-perception-art-587054>. (Figure 3)
Gotye Music 2011, Gotye – The Making of Eyes Wide Open – documentary, online video, YouTube, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/b_iuE_L2wys>. (Video 1)
Liquid Architecture 2026, Liquid Architecture, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://www.liquidarchitecture.org.au/>. (Figure 8)
Liquid Architecture 2026, Program: Workshops, Liquid Architecture, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://www.liquidarchitecture.org.au/program?type=workshop>. (Figure 1)
Londonist Ltd 2015, The Singing Lift of London, online video, YouTube, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/qigzjEEu_gk>. (Video 2)
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia 1995, Sound in Space: Adventures in Australian Sound Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://www.mca.com.au/exhibitions/sound-in-space/>. (Figure 4) National Film and Sound Archive of Australia 2026, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://www.nfsa.gov.au/>.
Powerhouse Museum 2025, B12–JLIN: Sampling the Collection, Powerhouse Museum, viewed 18 March 2026, <https://powerhouse.com.au/stories/b12-jlin>. (Figure 5)
