Exhibition
With Hidden Noise: Sculpture, Video and Ventriloquism
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
This event has passed
Challenging the idea that sculpture is a silent art, With Hidden Noise presents a selection of objects, sculptures and videos that are both evocative and illustrative of voice and voice throwing.
With Hidden Noise is the first exhibition to look at sculpture and video art and the ways in which both media have been animated by ventriloquism.
Looking at the relationship between an object and its operator, the sculpture and its maker, the viewer and the viewed, the exhibition examines ways in which sculptors have expressed themselves through the things they have made, and how sculptures have subsequently been given the power to ‘speak’.
With Hidden Noise presents works that open up a range of narratives and ventriloquist themes: from stories of collaborative making, tales of displaced responsibility, theatrical autobiographies and uncanny confessions, to video performances of political and psychological conflicts.
The exhibition brings together works that play on our ability to suspend disbelief, but which are also resonant of our anxieties over mimicry, illusion and literalism. It includes recent examples by artists who work with video but who describe themselves as sculptors, as well as a selection of works by well-known artists, like Duchamp and Morris, which are re-interpreted with ventriloquism and voice in mind.
List of works
Marcel Duchamp, With Hidden Noise 1916
Asta Gröting, Convention/ces poupées qui dissent oui 2001
Asta Gröting, The Inner Voice/Las Vegas 1999-2000
Lucy Gunning, Malcolm, Lloyd, Angela, Norman, Jane 1997
Robert Morris, Box with the sound of its own making 1961
Juan Muñoz, Gracias 1988
Tony Oursler, Underwater (Blue/Green) 1996
Nam June Paik, Buddha 21 2003
Imogen Stidworthy, Dummy 1998
Bill Woodrow, Songs of Praise 1983
Further research related to this exhibition
An audio recording of Geoff Felix’s talk ‘Ventriloquism’ is available in the Henry Moore Institute Research Library.
Publication
With Hidden Noise: Sculpture, Video and Ventriloquism
This accompanying catalogue examines the one-to-one relationship between object and operator, sculpture and maker, and challenges the commonly held assumption that sculpture is strictly silent art. It looks at the different ways that sculptors have expressed themselves and their ideas through objects and, in turn, at how sculptures have been made to ‘speak’.
With an introduction by Penelope Curtis (Curator of the Henry Moore Institute), texts by curators Stephen Feeke and Jon Wood, and descriptive catalogue entries on all the works in the exhibition.
Getting here
This exhibition took place in the Main Galleries of the Henry Moore Institute.
Henry Moore Institute
74 The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AH
United Kingdom
T: 01132 467 467
E: institute@henry-moore.org
