Art Exhibition- Sound Art

I attended the art exhibition Sound Art: New Only in Name that was held in the gallery in the Jot Travis Building. This exhibition showed several works by artists that utilized sound as a medium. The idea of sound art is a seemingly new genre that has become more recognized within the last decade and challenges the “normal,” standard idea that art is only visual, such as through sculpture or painting.

           One of the works that I saw that stuck out to me was the work entitled Structures in Microtonal Harmony, created by Jean-Paul Perrotte and Robert Morrison in 2015. It was made with six bronze bowls being randomly struck by pins to create different sounds. Viewers were also allowed to interact with this work by hitting the bowls with mallets. I really enjoyed this piece as the noises made from the bowls being struck by the pins varied and interested me. I also had the excitement of anticipating which bowl would be struck and when. Another piece that was appealing to me was Salt Marsh Suite made in 2014 by Carol Burch Brown and Tohm Judson. This audio piece also included video and was created over a 5-year period filming and recording the salt marshes and the wildlife living there. The audio and video channels were layered, giving the piece a transformed, distorted feel. The installation of the piece was well done- the video was projected on thin sheets hanging from the ceiling and the audio came from different speakers in the gallery. I felt surrounded by the piece as if I was there.

            Being an artist that is more visual, I was able to appreciate the audio works even though I wasn’t as familiar with the medium. I also appreciate art that is less “conventional” in nature- such as performance art or installations.