Sounds of Fury

An exhibition on sound art has you listening to the sound of a melting glacier,and the violent history of a violin.

We can see the effects of global warming all around us,but can you hear it? At Exhibit 320 in Lado Sarai,you can. Vatnajökull (The Sound of) by Scottish artist Katie Paterson aims to connect the global audience to Europes largest glacier,Vatnajokull,in an innovative way. A wall of the gallery glows with the number 07757001122 created in neon light. Beside it lies a set of earphones through which one can hear a steady trickle and plop of water. Paterson has embedded a microphone and amplifier to Vatnajokull,which is melting as the planet heats up,and transported the sound of water through a live telephone. Apart from the Delhi audience,more than 3,200 people from 47 countries have dialed to hear this sound of disaster.

Patersons work is part of the exhibition titled Audible Forces,on the concept of sound art. Curator Diana C Betancourt says,I wanted to show how sound art is not something with a soundtrack. The show explores works that use sound and listening as ways to indicate larger phenomena at play. Radio waves in our cellphones,political surveillance systems,global warming and chemical alterations by drug companies are a few examples of these phenomena that sound can hint at.

Among the 14 works in the exhibition is one titled Disarm (Violin VI) 2013 by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes. Placed at one end of the gallery,it is a violin that has a shocking resemblance to a rifle. A video running beside the work shows musicians playing similar instruments made from pistols,guns and rifles. I carried this work by hand from London on an airplane to show it in Delhi. This is a working violin,which can be played,and is made from guns that had been turned in as an amnesty exercise in Juarez Mexico,one of the most dangerous and drug-infested cities in the world. The violin is played to exorcize the violent past of the guns and remember those who died. The sound shows the power of human cooperation to achieve something better, says the curator.

Turntablist Christian Marclays video titled Telephones,1995,was made with stills from 130 films of different decades. The opening scenes have actors such as Meg Ryan,Clark Gable,Whoopi Goldberg and Humphrey Bogart dialling the telephone. The work depicts an activity whose mechanics,rhythms and sonic properties have witnessed tremendous changes with recent technological development. With the widespread use of mobile phones,landlines have become almost obsolete. The note on the wall beside this reads,Gone are the days of fearing that a parent will intercept a phone call from a romantic interest,or the commitment to calling when one says they will.

The exhibition is on display till December 10 at Exhibit 320,F 320,Lado Sarai. Contact : 40130367

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