‘Sound is one of the most significant "raw materials" in the designer’s toolbox,’ says Design Museum Holon’s chief curator, Maya Dvash. Last month, the Museum opened its new exhibition Sound and Matter in Design, which investigates the multidimensional relationship between sound and design by turning the entire building into an experiential sound space.
The Sound of Architecture. Curators: Lila Chitayat and Anat Safran.
The Museum building designed by Ron Arad was transformed into a musical instrument through a site-specific installation named ‘The Sound of Architecture’.
The show mobilizes the building’s ‘already musical’ architecture, as its hollow weathering-steel ribbons can function as echo chambers and create an immersive musical arena where visitors become composers. Most importantly, such an architectural approach to sound demonstrates how the medium in fact encompasses not only the auditory, but also the visual and spatial realms.
Seeing Sound (Upper Gallery exhibition). Curators: Anat Safran, Lila Chitayat and Elisabetta Pisu.
Sound and Matter in Design tackles the question of how shapes, surroundings and everyday experiences are influenced by sound from three different perspectives: object, space, and environment.
The show’s ‘Seeing Sound’ exhibition showcases sound objects designed from the 1960s to the present day, and recounts the evolution of stereo systems and speakers to illustrate the conceptual shift from designing objects to designing user experiences – a change that continues to establish its relevance to this day, with the rise of experience as the most sought-after commodity by consumers.
Sensing Sound (Dr. Shulamit Katzman Gallery, the Lower Gallery). Creators and curators: Anat Safran and Lila Chitayat.
Is it possible to take this design-oriented approach to sound even further? ‘Sensing Sound’ does just that, literally turning sound waves into visual art. The interactive installation turns the gallery into a resonating chamber, translating the sound works made specifically for the space into visual representations that respond to the presence of visitors and their movements.
Such a project creates an overlap between the auditory and visual realms, and turns a traditionally abstract medium into a tangible one.
Through the Mesh (Peripheral Corridor) and Loops (The Design Lab). Creator: Yael Taragan.
From a more theoretical perspective, ‘Loops’ explores the conceptual similarities between sound and design. Focusing on repetition – a theme central to both disciplines – the exhibition consists of items from the Museum’s collection that symbolize a set of principles proper to both categories.
Collectively, the exhibitions showcased as part of Sound and Matter in Design at Design Museum Holon reveal the intersections between sound, objects, and space, and show how design as a connecting thread exceeds the physical to embrace the abstract.
Sound and Matter in Design will be on display until 28 October 2017. The exhibition is sponsored by sound-system company Morel and supported by the Italian Embassy of Israel, the Italian Cultural Institute of Tel Aviv and the Austrian Cultural Forum of Tel Aviv.
