Sound Art?

The Fundació Joan Miró presents Sound Art?, a question in the form of an exhibition which reassesses the notion of sound in art and considers the possibility of this aesthetic category.

The show, sponsored by the BBVA Foundation, is set up as a journey tracing the imprint of the sound element in twentieth-century visual arts and led by curator Arnau Horta, a recognised expert in contemporary art involving sound. The project unfolds along five sections which address everything from the sound element as a source of inspiration for visual artists to sound art as a possible aesthetic category, the music score as a space for experimentation, the body as a listening device, and silence as a discursive and conceptual element. Sound Art? gathers seventy pieces, including paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and installations that illustrate the ongoing, rich conversation that the visual arts have historically held with sound.

The selection covers a broad time span, ranging from the late nineteenth century until today, with works by thirty-six artists from around the world including James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Marcel Duchamp, Sonia Delaunay, Frantisek Kupka, Joseph Beuys, John Cage, Laurie Anderson, John Baldessari, Tres, and Joan Miró, among others. The visual-sonic world of Rolf Julius (1939-2011), never before displayed in an exhibition in Spain, has a prominent presence in Sound Art?, coinciding with the eightieth anniversary of the German artist’s birth.

Sound Art? draws its title from the seminal article by Max Neuhaus (1939-2009), which is included in the publication for this exhibition along with other key essays on the subject, new contributions from renowned scholars and first-hand accounts from artists and gallerists.