Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how the rise of 'Klangkunst' has challenged the existing curatorial strategies at German museums and other contemporary art venues (1980s-2000s), and how research into the experiences of artists, curators and visitors may inform new strategies for the display of sounding artworks.

Paper long abstract:

The gallery spaces at museums and other contemporary art venues have long been quiet spaces for the display of visual artworks. This tranquility has come to be challenged by a variety of sounding artworks, but most specifically by the so-called 'Klangkunst' that has been coined in Germany during the late 1980s and early 1990s to describe sounding artworks ranging from kinetic sculptures to loudspeaker installations.

This paper sets out to examine how the rise of Klangkunst (1980s-2000s) has challenged the existing curatorial strategies at museums and other contemporary art venues in Germany by asking the following sub-questions: (1) What aesthetic-experiential and technological challenges have artists felt faced with when positioning their sound works in a museum context? (2) How have curators dealt with artists' conceptions of sound, the everyday reality of the institution, and the technologies available? (3) How have museum visitors experienced and evaluated sounding artworks? (4) What lessons can be drawn for the display of sounding artworks today?

In order to answer these questions, I will focus on particular sculptures and installations in their respective exhibition situations at historically significant venues, such as Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen or Singuhr Hörgalerie Berlin. By means of archival research in museum depots and artist studios as well as qualitative interviews drawing on sensory ethnography, I aim to understand artists', curators' and visitors' experiences. This will be complemented by a theoretical analysis drawing on the notions of 'listening habitus', 'performativity', and 'affordances'.