Many voices, all of them loved

Many voices, all of them loved. Photo: Steve Shrimpton, 2020

Featuring: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Kader Attia, Laure Prouvost, Willem de Rooij, Liza Sylvestre and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa

This group exhibition explores how contemporary artists are mobilising the voice as sound, as metaphor, and as political material. The exhibition asks: what constitutes a voice, and what determines how particular voices are ‘heard’?

The voice is often thought of as a channel linking speakers and listeners. Many voices, all of them loved considers how voices bring us together, as well as how they can be made to drive us apart: enforcing borders and entrenching division. Stretching the notion of voice to include much more than just humans talking, this exhibition also amplifies the sounds of inanimate substances, and other species, as voice. In the works brought into conversation here, the voice is made present as rhythm, as visible pattern, and as carrier of meaning that extends from, and exceeds speech.

Many voices, all of them loved is curated by Dr Sarah Hayden, University of Southampton, as part of the ‘Voices in the Gallery’ Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Leadership project (2019-21) and supported by the AHRC and Mondriaan Fund. For more information visit: www.voicesinthegallery.com

The exhibition is accompanied by the Interruptions/Disruptions public programme, devised by Dr Eleanor K. Jones and Dr Priti Mishra at the University of Southampton, in conjunction with Sarah Hayden.

Interruptions/Disruptions is funded by the Public Engagement with Research Unit at the University of Southampton.

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