The Sounds of the World

Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea presents The Sounds
of the World, an exhibition of sound art works. The works constitute unique moments that welcome the viewer. Sound spreads and, thanks to its immaterial and reverberating nature, passes through bodies and things, establishing a dynamic relationship between people and their own sense of profound autonomy.

The term Sound Art describes those artistic expressions that use sound in an autonomous and spatial form by privileging its material, sculptural, architectural and relational connotations. The earliest traces of this genre can be traced back to the early 20th century artistic research of Luigi Russolo, who in his Futurist manifesto entitled The Art of Noise in 1913 defines noise as a “sound of the world.” But the development of sound art can be traced back to the late 1940s studies of French radio engineer and musicologist Pierre Schaeffer, and to the experiments of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s that combined art forms such as performance, immersive sound environments and electronic music. Authors of sound works include John Cage, Atsuko Tanaka, Fluxus artists such as Yoko Ono and Max Neuhaus, considered the founder of sound art, to name but a few. The Sounds of the World offers a journey starting in the garden with Sun & Sea listening edition, 2022, by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė, and from the Museum’s outdoor atrium with the work Untitled, 1995, by Max Neuhaus. The exhibition continues in the entrance staircase with The Internationale, 1999, by Susan Philipsz, an a cappella version of the piece of the same name. In gallery 15 on the second floor of the Museum is audible Mondo Nuovo (New World), 2022, by Irene Dionisio, and in galleries 7 and 8 Hell Yeah We Fuck Die, 2016, by Hito Steyerl. These two latest works investigate the consequences of artificial intelligence in the contemporary world. Gallery 33 features Salmon: A Red Herring, 2020, by Cooking Sections, an artist duo that addresses the theme of the food industry today. In the stairwell on the third floor, Trepanaciones (Sonidos de la morgue) (Trepanations – Sounds of the Morgue), 2003, by Teresa Margolles, is based on recordings of the sounds produced by surgical instruments. In the attic, Soundtrack for a Troubled Time, 2017, by Cally Spooner presents the processes of today’s society through sound. The exhibition includes Promenade, 2023, by Ramona Ponzini. This new commission, curated by Giulia Colletti, proposes a reflection on the notion of inaccessibility by tracing the sounds of some places in the Museum, which are otherwise out of visitors’ reach.

The Sounds of the World is an inclusive exhibition aimed at facilitating access to art for people with disabilities such as the blind and visually impaired.

The project was implemented thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture

Supported by the European Union – Next Generation EU