CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/9/2013

Soundings: A Contemporary Score

This weekend, The Museum of Modern Art opens Soundings: A Contemporary Score, MoMA first major exhibition of sound art. Featuring work by 16 artists, the show is accompanied by a film series and an ongoing program of performances and lectures. Featured image, a still from Hong-Kai Wang's multi-channel sound and two-channel video installation, "Music While We Work" (2011), is reproduced from the exhibition catalog. She writes, "My interest in sound stemmed from my experience as a foreigner in New York City, constantly confronting the inadequacy and inaccessibility of language. My inability to properly express myself in English frustrated my desire to communicate. This prompted me to be very conscious of any sonic information I could glean. Listening became my primary form of agency vis-à-vis my daily experience. I was able to speculate freely about the chaos and confusion around me. Since then, listening—as an organizing principle—has been a focal point in my research."