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 shhh… sounds in spaces
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Something to shout about at London’s V&A. The V&A’s latest exhibition is like a riddle: “How do you change a museum without doing anything to the actual displays?” The answer is to create sound installations that are so innovative, varied and technologically developed that the entire process of visiting a gallery is transformed. The museum commissioned 10 different musicians and artists to create sound-pieces in response to different rooms and spaces. The contributors are incredibly varied, from big art names like Gillian Wearing and Jeremy Deller, to musicians like Roots Manuva, David Byrne, Leila and ex-Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser. The pieces completely alter each room you enter and how you examine the objects around you. The process is very simple. You pick up a set of headphones and an MP3 explorer when you arrive. Then, as you wander around the gallery, infrared sensors pick up on your movements and begin playing music or sounds in each space.  “What I was really interested in was the idea that visitors would be able to create their own personal response and their own relationship to the pieces,” explains Lauren Parker, Curator of Contemporary Programmes at the V&A. “I think it was really the idea of creating pockets of mini environments that are different from what other people are experiencing in the museum.” Your unique path through the different pieces is completely exploratory and fresh, even for seasoned V&A fans. The contrasts and comparisons between sound and space is exploited perfectly. Roots Manuva’s rude boy riddim, You Rang Me Lord?, plays in an opulent 18th-century gold encrusted music room, built on the spoils of slavery. Elizabeth Fraser’s abstract soaring vocals become almost spiritual surrounded by Raphael cartoons. Less musical accompaniments are just as successful. Gillian Wearing chose to accompany a panelled 17th-century interior with a very personal account of someone talking about how the space evokes his own experience in school.  David Byrne and Cornelius The exhibition wouldn’t be so interesting if the technology, developed by San Francisco theatre company Antenna Audio, wasn’t so well conceived. When David Byrne’s jaw-clenching whispers begin on wheelchair ramps around the building, it’s as if someone is behind your shoulder. When he creates a track from samples of flushing toilets and dripping taps, you’re thankful for the nearby toilet. “The technology has become transparent,” notes Lauren Parker. “We wanted to get artists and visitors to engage with the space, with the technology facilitating that, rather than having its own impact on people’s experience.” Francesca Gavin 21 May 04 Shhh… Sounds In Spaces is at the V&A, London, until 30 Aug 04.  listen to audio clips from shhh...  conversations
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