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Do you hear us? An exhibition on silence, noise, and listening at at Istituto Svizzero

November 26, 2021

Artists: Mohamed Almusibli, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Miriam Cahn, Nina Emge, Nastasia Meyrat, Dorian Sari, Hannah Weinberger

Exhibition title: Do you hear us? An exhibition on silence, noise, and listening

Venue: Instituto Svizzero, Rome, Italy

Date: October 15, 2021 – January 30, 2022

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Instituto Svizzero, Milan

Note: Exhibition booklet is available here

Istituto Svizzero is pleased to present in Rome the group exhibition Do you hear us? which explores the concept of sound in its several aspects. How has our perception of sound changed during the pademic? Can sound generate social and political space? What is the difference between listening and hearing?

Taking these questions as a starting point, the artworks presented, some of which were specifically conceived for the exhibition, explore the meaning of silence, noise and listening as powerful acts of resistance.

The experience of the pandemic changed our perception of the world. Thinking back over the lockdown weeks here in Rome, I remember in particular the shift in soundscape. The city became silent and, in the silence, I suddenly heard other things: the screeching of hungry seagulls (which, I read, feed on the leftovers from restaurants in cities) and the drone of police helicopters over rooftops.
Silence, noise and listening always have a social if not political dimension. The sounds, yes, the noise, that surround us always create a certain social space. Silencing someone is an act of violence; at the same time, staying silent can be a resistant gesture, and listening can be claimed as an active political act that gives space to unheard, neglected voices. «Hearing,» the composer Pauline Oliveros writes, «happens involuntarily, listening, on the other hand, is a voluntary process that produces culture through training and experience». In Italian, the verb ‘sentire’ means not only to listen, but also to feel.
The group exhibition Do you hear us? at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome aims to trace these things. In doing so, the artistic works, some of which were conceived especially for the exhibition, and some of which pre-existed, explore a multi-layered theme. The invited artists address the listening of migrant voices and memories and the meaning of music and singing in this context, show us how silence can be a powerful performative act of resistance, invoke the roots of listening as an active political strategy in the feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, or remind us how quickly we overhear certain voices in the constant noise of social media.

Gioia Dal Molin, August 2021

From left to right: Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Silent (2016), installation with HD, 7:00’. Miriam Cahn, schweigende schwester (1980), pencil on white paper, installation: 21 × 190 cm. Dorian Sari, Breakneck (2021), rubber balloons, various sizes. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

Dorian Sari, Breakneck (2021), rubber balloons, various sizes. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio.

Miriam Cahn, schweigende schwester (1980), pencil on white paper, installation: 21 × 190 cm. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio.

Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Silent (2016), installation with HD, 7:00’. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

Miriam Cahn, schweigende schwester, freundliche köpfe mit haaren (1980), pencil on paper, installation: 21 × 187 cm. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

Nastasia Meyrat, Like antibodies (2021), plaster, sound, 110 × 50 × 67 cm. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

Nina Emge, Not In Use (microfon stand 1-5) (2021), iron, XRL cables, microphone holder, mixer, 4 speakers, various sizes. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio.

From left to right: Mohamed Almusibli, Cassetten-Bar (orange) (2021), plastic, 18 × 14 × 16 cm. Mohamed Almusibli, I Hear Them Coming For Me (2021), four channel video installation. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

Mohamed Almusibli, Cassetten-Bar (orange) (2021), plastic, 18 × 14 × 16 cm. Installation view at Istituto Svizzero, Roma, 2021. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio