Echo Planning Group
On May 15, 2021, "Echoes: Greetings from Nature and The City" Overture Exhibition Special Event "How to Show Sound?" ——The Cross-Domain Symposium was held at the Art Pavilion of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai, and guests from the fields of sound art, popular science education, and exhibition design discussed the challenges and thoughts of displaying sound in different scenes during the nearly 3-hour sharing and interaction around the six levels of sound itself, carrier, concept, environment, creator, audience/audience.
The content of this article is based on the on-site speeches of the symposium and is organized and supplemented, and is divided into two series. The first part favors sound as a means of display for popular science education, and the second part favors sound as a way to display artistic creation. We want to raise questions to professionals in different fields, start with the curatorial practice of Echo Exhibition, listen to the views and opinions generated in different backgrounds, and explore their commonalities and particularities. Readers are very welcome to interact after reading this special edition, and welcome more different views to collide.
How sound is represented: the relationship between sound, carrier, concept, environment, creator, audience/listener
Zhu Jirong, co-curator of the Echo Exhibition, took the curatorial practice of the Echo Exhibition as the starting point, introduced the topic of "how to display sound", shared the behind-the-scenes story of the trade-offs, choices and transformations in the process of the exhibition from conception to implementation, and connected the presentation of sound display in the two fields of contemporary art and popular science education.
Talking about the reason for the symposium, Zhu Jirong mentioned that in the process of planning the overture exhibition, the curatorial team did some basic research on the echo itself and the space where the echo is located. If two categories are roughly carried out: contemporary art displays sound under the premise of "(art) concept first", while the display of sound in places with more popular science nature, such as science and technology museums and natural museums, displays sound under the premise of "knowledge (transmission) first".
Taking the Science Museum in London as an example, Zhu Jirong briefly introduced the context of the sound collection in the science museum community. Since the 1920s, the Sound Collection has been on display at the Science Museum in London. In the 1950s and 1960s, the acoustic collection was re-evaluated for the second time, and the museum further reflected on the role of sound in displaying acoustic collections. By the 1970s, the London Science Museum seized an experimental opportunity in the exhibition "The Trumpet Shall Sound" (1977), commemorating the 100th anniversary of Edison's invention of the tin foil phonograph: positioning sound as a key vehicle for the meaning and narrative of the exhibition.
In 1960, the audience listened to a commentary about the Steel Exhibition Hall. © Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library
Entrance to the "The Trumpet Shall Sound" exhibition at the Science Museum in London, 1977. © Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library
1977年，The Trumpet Shall Sound 展览邀请卡。 © Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library
Open the website page of the London Science Museum and you can read hundreds of content related to sound display, including many cross-cutting topics, such as humanities and technology, art and technology and other interesting topics. Just as Zhu Jirong's original intention for the curation of the Echo Exhibition, "the Echo Exhibition is a theme exhibition, not an art exhibition, and we have always maintained the meaning of 'cross-field' and 'open discussion' in the curatorial process." ”
In terms of the visual presentation of sound works, the Echo Overture exhibition in Shanghai invited Frank Dittmann, the exhibition designer of the Swiss exhibition hall. For the space design of the Art Pavilion Glass House at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Zhu Jirong shared how the curatorial team chose to better play the advantages and limitations of the venue when facing a variety of design concepts.
"We have made a lot of revision attempts, for example, in the first version of the plan, the designers introduced the concept of mirror elements to represent the echo, and the English 'ECHO' and the Chinese 'echo' just show the symmetry of the visual level at the same time. However, considering that the mirror reflection will cause people a sense of uneasiness and anxiety, the glass house of the benchmark art pavilion is located in downtown Shanghai, the external environment of the exhibition hall is bustling, and the pedestrians are walking in a hurry, which is completely different from the overall environment of the Swiss exhibition, and finally we abandoned the mirror element and chose the horizon and the symmetrical line flush as the echo visual concept of the exhibition method. ”
The first edition of the "Echo" Overture Exhibition was designed at the home of the exhibition. Frank Dittmann diagram
The "Echo" Overture Exhibition is designed to adopt a version. Frank Dittmann diagram
Regarding the tunnel space of the "Idle Co-operative" in the sub-venue of the Echo Overture Exhibition, Zhu Jirong mentioned that frank, the designer of the exhibition, had thought of "exploring" the tunnel sound by wearing a mini projector on his head, although his imagination was rich, but in the process of implementation, he was limited and could not be presented.
First draft of the sub-venue design for the "Echo" overture exhibition. Frank Dittmann diagram
Thus Zhu Jirong throws up a question, that is, whether visual presentation (or the blessing of other dimensions) has an effect and meaning on the display of sound. In addition, whether explicitly or implicitly, it is also common in science museums to use vocal objects (installations) as a form of sound art in contemporary art exhibitions, and the two start with the same design method, but with different purposes. The interpretation of this issue is left to the follow-up guests in the fields of art and science popularization.
As a science curator, Xu Lei of the Exhibition R&D Department of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum was responsible for the planning and implementation of the two exhibition areas of "Colorful Life" and "Survival Wisdom" completed by the Shanghai Museum of Natural History in 2014, of which the "Colorful Life" exhibition area was rated as the "most beautiful exhibition area" by the audience. At this symposium, Yu Yiming, a librarian at the Shanghai Museum of Natural History, also shared the songworm theme exhibition "Night Listening to Insects" and the sound presentation in the long-term project "Citizen Scientists" of the Museum. Hearing is the most beautiful evolution, how to interpret the sound of nature in the popular science venue, let the audience perceive the beauty of nature in the way of listening, and discover the intention of the curator, which is the challenge of displaying sound in the field of science popularization.
Located in the Jing'an Sculpture Park in Shanghai, the Shanghai Museum of Natural History (Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Branch, hereinafter referred to as the "Self-Museum Museum") is an important base for science education, "Science and art are a pair of sisters, and the relationship between these sisters is getting closer and closer." As a popular science curator, Xu Lei believes that the pursuit of beauty in science and art is common, "Nature itself is beautiful, how do you find and present it, is what our science curators want to do." ”
The hierarchical display of "where does sound come from" – starting with something familiar to arouse curiosity
Everything has a sound. Referring to the display of sound in the science venue, Xu Lei believes that the most important issue is to tell the audience "where does the sound come from". In the "Sounds of Nature" exhibition item in the exhibition area of "Colorful Life", male cicadas, crickets, and songbirds are used as examples, and when displaying the sounds of these creatures, a model of the vocal organs of animals is enlarged, and instruments using similar vocal principles are displayed side by side, supplemented by animation analysis.
The "Sound of Nature" section of the Shanghai Museum of Natural History's "Colorful Life" exhibition area, the vocal organ of the male cicada. Courtesy of the speaker
In the case of male cicadas, for example, the eardrum sounds in the way most cicadas have, and its "musical instrument" grows on the stomach. Through the continuous contraction and relaxation of the eardrum muscle, a loud "know, know" sound is produced. Xu Lei mentioned that in the process of displaying the vocal organs of insects, there are layered considerations, first of all, through the familiar contrasting instruments to arouse the curiosity of the audience, that is, the contrasting model display of the male cicada and the drum; secondly, through the way of graphic interpretation and scientific painting to show more detailed scientific knowledge.
"We" and Nature – Bird dialect with forest musicians
In the Natural Museum, there is also an impressive aural scene. One tree hole after another was dug into the trunk of the simulated tree, attracting children to sit in the tree hole, and the exhibition was called "Forest Musician". Xu Lei mentioned that this area hopes to create a forest scene, in addition to the specimen display, the four groups of insects, birds, frogs, beasts four groups of sounds into the tree hole, in order to match the height of the children, specially designed the groove of the tree hole to be low. At the same time, there are more interesting "treasure" sounds in this exhibition area waiting for the audience to discover.
Shanghai Natural History Museum "Forest Musicians" exhibition area. Courtesy of the speaker
"We humans have various dialects, different places have different dialects, in fact, animals also have dialects." When introducing the "Bird Dialect" exhibition item, Xu Lei mentioned that the criteria for selecting display samples are very strict, in addition to the support of the professional scientific team behind it, the sound samples selected by the museum are not only representative birds singing, but also clearly reflect the "dialect" characteristics of a place where it belongs, and the display means are mainly interactive multimedia. These "dialects of birds" allow the audience to more intuitively understand the differences through the illustrations of the sound language diagram (waveform diagram).
Birds also have "dialects", in the case of the great cuckoo, whose "dialects" have different song frequencies. Courtesy of the speaker
In addition to legibility, interactivity in popular science curation is also crucial, and the "Sound Imitation Show" exhibition hopes to practice this. After the exhibition landed, there were often many "strange" sounds in that area. By imitating the sounds of animals (e.g. tigers, domestic horses, gray wolves, etc.), the audience will get a score of sound similarity after the imitation is completed. Xu Lei also mentioned what needs to be improved, "Due to the relatively small scale, many viewers will ignore this fun exhibition among forest musicians; secondly, the best practice of imitating the show case is a separate room, but due to some objective conditions, it has not been realized." ”
From Scientist to "Citizen Scientist"
Architecture of the "Citizen Scientist" project at the Shanghai Museum of Natural History. Courtesy of the speaker
Citizen Scientist is a long-term project of the Shanghai Museum of Natural History since 2016 and is also a self-owned educational brand activity of the museum. Yu Explains the intent of the Citizen Scientist project: it is an activity planned by scientists to popularize the methods and meaning of scientific investigation to the public through public participation. At one end of the activity are scientists, and at the other end are ordinary people. Scientists and project parties guide the general public to participate in science surveys through recruitment organization, design planning and analysis.
When Yu Yiming explained the logic of project planning, he said from the perspective of the public and planners: "The first is observation and exploration: I hear the voice here, I notice it. The second is recording: I record this sound with my phone. The third is to upload sounds. At the same time as uploading, the public provides some data base for people who do research in universities and research institutes, so the public has the identity of 'citizen scientists' - they are listeners, but also participants, content producers, and providers of original material. ”
The "Night Listening to Insects" exhibition held at the Zi museum in October 2019 is a presentation of the research and activities of "citizen scientists". Yu Yiming used bird sounds and insect sounds as examples to illustrate the biological research related to sound. For example, the sound waves, frequencies, and amplitudes of bird sounds and insect songs, and the relationship between courtship, mating, struggle, summoning and other biological activities.
With very limited funds, the Museum has chosen a sound-based theater format with the exhibition title of "Night Listening to Bugs" to present the results of scientific research and the above-mentioned collection activities. The three parts that make up the exhibition are visual cues, an immersive auditory environment, and an invitation to visualize the auditory experience after viewing the exhibition.
In terms of the visual presentation of the exhibition, on the one hand, the museum uses detailed specimen production, precision specimen shooting, and the countless images of each species are synthesized and enlarged. On the other hand, the waveform diagram of the insect song is also displayed simultaneously. In the sound theater of the exhibition, in order to present a three-dimensional and realistic sound field effect, in addition to inviting insect research experts to join, the museum cooperated with Nie Jun, a teacher from Yisheng Studio of Tongji University, to present a sound scene of the city after heavy rain under the name of "Mr. Dou Cricket's Eight O'clock in the Evening".
In the urban environment at eight o'clock in the evening, after a busy day, people leave work, the sound of people and traffic flow rises and falls, and suddenly thunder suddenly appears and heavy rain pours down. After the rain stopped, a small, ethereal cricket sound sounded in the grassy bush above the soil. Then, the sound of insects such as textile girls and Japanese bell crickets also began to appear from all directions. In the theater, the planning team restored the position relationship and movement trajectory of different insects relative to the human ear, and issued a three-dimensional chirping sound one after another. The space of the theater is deliberately designed to be dark, to concentrate and highlight the auditory experience.
After the end of the "Night Listening bugs" exhibition, the "Citizen Scientist" project continues to expand: at present, the Museum has continued to launch new projects such as "Hello Frog" and "Bird Collision Project" (how to reduce the damage of birds due to accidental collision with glass in cities) in combination with scientific research in other fields.
There is no sound in the world – "listening" is one of the most wonderful things in biological evolution
Xu Lei said that there is no sound in the world, and sound is a conspiracy between vibrational waves and the brain. That is to say, hearing sounds is the ability of animals to gradually produce in the process of evolution, and each sound is interpreted from the delicate organ of the ear into the brain. However, not everyone is lucky enough to appreciate the beauty of sound. On 3 March 2021, the World Health Organization released the World Hearing Report, which says that about 1 in 5 people worldwide are hearing impaired.
Xu Lei concluded her lecture with the classic work "Silent Spring" by American marine biologist Rachel Carlson: "A strange silence envelops the town. Birds don't know where they're going, and many people talk about birds with confusion and uneasiness. The feeders in the back garden are no longer patronized by birds. Most of the few birds I saw were dying, trembling and unable to fly. Spring becomes silent. Once upon a time, robins, cats, pigeons, jays, wrens and dozens of other species of birds began to sing in harmony at dawn, but now they are silent. Silence envelops fields, woods and swamps. Xu Lei said that if there is no sound in the world, it will become full of loneliness and fear. Therefore, sound is one of the most wonderful things in biological evolution, and it can take you to another world.
[To be continued, please continue reading the Echo Overture Exhibition| Cross-Domain Symposium (Part 2): What Sound Representation Means" ]
Recent events: Echo Overture Exhibition "Echo Field of the Night" | intimate echoes
Time: 2021.6.6 (Sunday) 19:00-20:00
Venue: MoCA Pavilion, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai (Gate 7, People's Park, 215 West Nanjing Road)
Presented by: Contrast Vocal Ensemble (CONTRAST)
As the closing event of the Echo Overture Exhibition at the MoCA Art Pavilion on the main venue, as well as the "Echo Field of the Night" event, the Contrast Vocal Orchestra will respond to the concept of the Echo Exhibition with the audience through speech communication, walking and moving in space, and singing with the audience under the theme of "Intimate Echo". At that time, the headphones hanging in the exhibition hall will be relocated, giving new roles and identities, and we will make the echo a greeting that connects each other through intimate interaction. At the seam of day and night, the echo of Acapella with the night view of Nanjing West Road records the breath of the city, the hustle and bustle of the day, the dinging of the brilliant night sky, and the main exhibition hall of the Echo Overture Exhibition located in the MoCA Art Pavilion will end in the vocal chorus and embark on the next stage of the journey.
Profile: The Contrast Vocal Orchestra is from Shanghai, the members have many years of singing experience, and released their first MV "Remember Me" at the end of 2017, which was officially forwarded by Pixar. In 2018 and 2019, he won the second place and best stage presentation award of the National Modern Acapella Competition for two consecutive years. In 2019, he began to launch a series of self-arranged cover works online. In addition to the brand collaboration activities, the Contrast Vocal Ensemble hopes to extend the orchestra's musical performance and cross-domain reach through the combination of sound-related artistic activities.
How to register: Please scan the QR code below for the "Echo: Greetings from Nature and the City" Overture Exhibition
Echo: Greetings from Nature and The City is planned to be based on the Swiss Alpine Museum, Bern's 2019 exhibition Echo: The Mountain Calls Back. Based on the curatorial framework of the Swiss Echo Exhibition, the planning team of "Echo: Greetings from Nature and The City" cooperated by China and Switzerland extended the Echo Exhibition to China and debuted in the form of a overture exhibition, which resonated with the domestic echo and the Swiss echo. Sixteen audio works are exhibited in the Overture Exhibition. Some of the Swiss works are composed of the works of the sound artist Christian Zehnder; the domestic works are mainly sampled from the "Echo Map" public collection jointly curated by one of the organizers, The Paper, in 2021, and some are invited to exhibit.
Duration: Sunday, April 25, 2021 to Sunday, June 6, 2021
Venue: MoCA Pavilion, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai (Gate 7, People's Park, 215 West Nanjing Road. Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 10:00-21:00)
Sub-venue: "Idle Down Cooperative" Area B Tunnel (Shanghai Changning District Xianxia Road 700 Lane 25 in front of the underground air raid shelter. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-20:00, from now until June 10 due to the construction of the community is temporarily suspended, after reopening the extension period will be extended to late June. ）
Editor-in-charge: Shen Jianwen
Proofreader: Liu Wei