See sound, hear art: Exhibition to display sound art installation

CHENNAI: Apparao Galleries is organising a unique art exhibition of sound installations, ‘The Listening Society’, by Budhaditya Chattopadhyay in the city till December (date).

The exhibition titled, which opens today, focuses on displaying how sounds interact with and within society.

Speaking to DT Next about the theme of the exhibition, the 37-year-old artiste based in the Netherlands says, “Sound as a medium is very difficult to control; sound always travels and so it is difficult to put it in a frame. Unlike painting on canvasses or sculpting statues, sound cannot be physically modified. “But the effect they have on people is still as great as other physical forms of art. Sound has the tendency to sensitise people. Be it the temple bell or the church bell, you feel an immediate sense of connectivity, sensitivity, and unity as a society; which is why I decided to name the show ‘The Listening Society’.”

Budhaditya, having a background in Engineering, has also been working a lot with the recording of sounds and programming them with technology to turn them into something meaningful and deep.

The exhibition explores four projects that the artiste has been working on for the last 5 years - Dhvani, Expanded Objects, Landship Booth, and Indecent Whispers.

In Dhvani, spiritual objects like temple/church bell, South-East Asian wind chime, and a gong is used.

Budhaditya Chattopadhyay

These automatised objects are placed and programmed to react when the audience interacts with them and even does so in their presence. This piece is developed through sensor technology.

“In Expanded Object, the installation holds visual information to focus your attention towards the sound as a medium. This part of the exhibition is the introductory part and the audience is introduced to an acoustic realm,” he says.

Landship Booth aims to revive historical figures using artificial intelligence and machine learning. “We have an installation where people can interact with Gandhi through AI. They can ask him questions and he will respond.”

Having been attracted by the science of sound and the art that he sees in it, he has mixed art and technology to create something extraordinary. “I’m looking forward to people coming and interacting with the pieces and see how the blend of society and sound works out,” he adds.

The exhibition is open for display till December 31 from 3 pm to 6.30 pm from Tuesday to Saturday at Apparao Galleries. For details contact 9884320305.