T5 WK 6: SOUND IN VISUAL ARTS
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 8
Sound plays an important role in the visual arts by adding another layer to how we experience a work. Instead of only looking, audiences can also listen, which can change how the artwork feels and how we understand it. Artists use sound in different ways, such as background soundscapes, recorded noises (Foley), music, or spoken voice.
Soundscapes are combinations of sounds that create an environment, like city noise, nature, or abstract audio. These can make an artwork feel immersive, as if you are inside it. Foley refers to everyday sounds (like footsteps, wind, or objects moving) that are recorded and added to enhance realism or atmosphere.
In some artworks, sound supports the visuals, helping guide emotions or focus attention. In others, sound becomes the main element, with little or no visual component. These are called sound-based works, where the artwork is experienced primarily through listening rather than seeing.
This video explores how composer Mia Salsjö reimagines the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a piece of music. Instead of treating the bridge as a static structure, she studies its architectural drawings, materials, and construction details to translate them into sound.
The work asks viewers to reconsider how we experience familiar landmarks, shifting from visual recognition to sensory interpretation through sound. By doing this, Salsjö demonstrates how architecture can hold hidden patterns and rhythms that can be expressed in non-visual ways. The project highlights the connection between structure, data, and sound, and shows how everyday environments can be transformed into artistic compositions.
This video looks at Tauba Auerbach's studio practice, where they explore connections between art, science, mathematics, and craft. Auerbach works across different materials and processes, using techniques like painting, marbling, and drawing as ways of researching how systems and relationships function. A key focus is how ideas of connection and interdependence can be expressed through both visual and sound-based works. This is shown in Auerglass Organ, a collaborative instrument that requires two people to play together, making sound through shared physical effort. The piece reflects how systems rely on cooperation and balance.
This video presents an exhibition that explores how sound can be created through materials and experimental processes. Featuring contemporary artists, the works use handmade instruments, electronics, and recycled or outdated technologies to produce sound in unexpected ways. The exhibition challenges traditional ideas of stable materials by showing how objects can shift, respond, or behave unpredictably when used for sound-making.
This video explores Janet Cardiff’s sound installation Forty Part Motet, which reinterprets a 16th-century choral composition by Thomas Tallis. Cardiff recorded 40 individual singers and plays each voice through a separate speaker, arranged in groups to reflect the original choir structure.
The installation allows audiences to walk among the speakers, experiencing each voice individually or as part of the full composition. This creates a physical and immersive sound environment, where sound becomes spatial and sculptural. The work demonstrates how audio can transform space and how listening can become an active, embodied experience within visual art.
This website presents the collaborative work of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, who create immersive sound and multimedia installations. Their practice often combines audio, sculpture, and narrative to place the viewer inside constructed environments. A key focus of their work is the use of sound to guide movement and perception, particularly through audio walks and multi-speaker installations. These works blur the boundaries between real and imagined spaces, encouraging audiences to engage physically and emotionally.
Great link for sounds - Freesound
References: ABC Arts 2023, Artist Mia Salsjö has turned Sydney Harbour Bridge into a musical composition | Art Works, online video, YouTube, viewed 16 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/JLU_YYYrD8c>. (Video 1)
Art21 2023, Tauba Auerbach in "Bodies of Knowledge" – Season 11, YouTube, viewed 16 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/_UVZ5s52bn8>. (Video 2)
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center 2019, Materials, Sounds + Black Mountain College, online video, YouTube, viewed 16 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/-tNPSQziZCE>. (Video 3)
Cardiff, J & Miller, GB n.d., Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, viewed 16 March 2026, <https://cardiffmiller.com/>. (Figure 1 and 2)
Freesound n.d., Freesound, viewed 16 March 2026, <https://freesound.org/>.
Tate 2017, Janet Cardiff and the Forty Part Motet | TateShots, online video, YouTube, viewed 16 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/38ORiaia9r8>. (Video 4)
