Review of ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’

ArtScience Museum 10th anniversary exhibition celebrating sound
By A&M

Hannah Perry, ‘Rage Fluids’, 2021, sound installation. Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Kandlhofer.

ArtScience Museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the major exhibition ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’, which opened on 28 August. Featuring the works of 32 artists and composers from eight countries, ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’ is deeply personal. Speaking about the motivations for the show, curator Adrian George, who is also Director, Exhibitions and Museum Services, ArtScience Museum, began with the musical talent of his grandfather Edgar Jones, who graduated from The Royal College of Music in 1930, which he regrettably did not inherit. In spite or because of this, he is very sensitive to sound, which he notes is all around us at all times. “You could say that we are swimming in an ocean of sound,” says George. This was heightened with his move to Singapore, where he found out that music is a compulsory part of the education in schools in Singapore, and when the Singapore pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale showed Song-Ming Ang’s presentation ‘Music for Everyone: Variations on a Theme’, he felt moved to curate an exhibition about sound at the museum. 

The title ‘Orchestral Maneouvres’ is apt not only for the show’s musical premise, but also the way it came together. “This show was about orchestration and not so much a physical manifestation of sound,” says Honor Harger, Executive Director, ArtScience Museum, citing the generosity of all the participating artists in making the show a reality in spite of pandemic restrictions. “The title is also an homage to the band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark from the 1980s, and it became a way of describing the way the exhibition was curated in the space. Normally sound is shown in isolation. In this exhibition, they are actually composed in a space. For example, Ashley Zelinskie’s work stands together with works by Robert Morris and Tim Ulrichs; the pieces in this gallery are orchestrated together.”

“Mechanisms of sound-making are made visible, encouraging the visitor to rethink conventional understandings of what sound could sound like and look like.”

Mechanisms of sound-making are made visible, encouraging the visitor to rethink conventional understandings of what sound could sound like and look like. In the first chapter, ‘Resonance’, we encounter Hannah Perry’s sound sculpture ‘Rage Fluids’ (2021). In a virtual media preview, Perry says, “It makes the air around and the reflection vibrate and you can kind of get this very visceral feeling from the work.” She adds, “In a way, it makes the sound have its own visual language that can be felt in the air and seen visually. There is something about the installation that is quite bodily and delicate.” Within each chapter, the works converse with each other, and Perry’s work is juxtaposed against German artist Carsten Nicola’s ‘milch (series of 10)’ (2000) which shows enlarged images of sound waves reflected on the surface of milk. 

Gillian Wearing, ‘Dancing in Peckham’, 1994, production still. Image courtesy of the artist and © Crown Copyright UK Government Art Collection.

Christine Sun Kim, ‘The Sound of Gravity Doing its Thing’, 2017. Image courtesy of the artist and White Space, Beijing.

There are eight other chapters each exploring an aspect of sound: ‘Performing Objects’, ‘Sounds Around’, ‘Writing Sound’, ‘Inner Voice’, ‘Unheard’, ‘Choral’, ‘Playlist’ and ‘Auto-Tune’. As we consider the works within each chapter, we are at liberty to put together a different composition of the works across the chapters. Silence relates to sound in that it is a lack of sound, and the selection of works is particularly interesting in this regard. A mesmerising work that explores this idea is Gillian Wearing’s ‘Dancing in Peckham’ (1994) in Chapter 6 ‘Unheard’. The artist is observed moving her body rhythmically as one would to music, but no music is heard, for she is doing so to the memory of a song. In another thought-provoking series, Christine Sun Kim, who was born deaf, creates her own way of presenting sound in works such as ‘The Sound of Gravity Doing its Thing’ in Chapter 3 ‘Sounds Around’, where she repeated the letter ‘p’ for piano, or soft and ‘f’ for forte, or loud, with a heavier or lighter hand, or putting them close together or far apart to approximate what it might sound -- or look -- like for gravity to do “its thing”. And Yoko Ono’s works in Chapter 4 are particularly poetic in their instructions for making sound in one’s mind. ‘Earth Piece’ (1963/1964) reads in a simple line: “Listen to the sound of the earth turning”, which could be translated as a reminder to stand still and take a pause in the chaos of life. 

Janet Cardiff, ‘The Forty Part Motet (A reworking of Spem in Alium, by Thomas Tallis 1556)’, 2001. Collection of Pamela and Richard Kramlich. Installation view. Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montreal 2002. Image courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

A standout work that George highlights is ‘The Forty Part Motet (A reworking of “Spem in Alium,” by Thomas Tallis 1556)’ (2001) by Janet Cardiff. In what she calls a “sculptural composition”, Cardiff explains that the audience “may walk and be intimately connected to one singer and then the next singer and then the next singer and creates a new experience for the person that enters the room”. She marvels at the enduring pull of the work, saying, “I also liked the idea of the 16th century piece of music that became a virtual choir that could connect emotionally. There is this composition that was written centuries ago but still has a connection with people today through technology.” The possibility of listening to discreet voices standing next to each speaker and then stepping to the centre to hear the swell of the chorus offers a unique, interactive experience of a choir performance.  

Mel Brimfield, 4′ 33″ (Prepared Pianola for Roger Bannister), 2012, sound installation. Image courtesy of the artist. © Crown Copyright UK Government Art Collection.

There are other distinct opportunities for visitor participation in the exhibition. Within Chapter 4, Mel Brimfield’s sound installation ‘4’33” (Prepared Pianola for Roger Bannister)’ (2012) lies in wait for someone to press a big red button, which sets off an elaborate musical performance presenting various instruments. And in Chapter Eight ‘Playlist’, one can press on pedals to make household cleaning objects spin and create percussive noises as they coincide with each other, or play a piano and hear the sounds through headphones. There is also a station to create visual representations of music in the style of works in the previous chapters, such as Toshi Ichiyanagi’s ‘Music for Piano No. 7’ (1961) which pushed for a vertical bottom-to-top reading of musical scores in opposition to the western way of reading music from left to right.

Zul Mahmod, ‘Resonance in Frames’, 2018, at ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’ at ArtScience Museum. Image courtesy of the artist and Marina Bay Sands.

Song-Ming Ang, ‘Music Manuscripts No. 55–70’, 2018, at ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’ at ArtScience Museum. Image courtesy of the artist and Marina Bay Sands.

A sense of relatability also comes through strongly in works that highlight simple production methods and ideas of amateurism. In ‘Resonance in Frames 2 and 3’ (2018), Zul Mammod uses utilitarian everyday materials such as copper pipes and solenoids to create unique “gadget-instruments”. These wall-based sound sculptures showcase his flare as a tinkerer who is able to make basic materials come to live. Song-Ming Ang’s ‘Music Manuscripts’ series (2013-) also engages with a do-it-yourself sensibility, by treating blank music sheets as a base for abstract drawings. That said, the choice of presenting this set of works over others in Ang’s oeuvre is somewhat a missed opportunity to tease out the social dimension in his practice, which can be seen in pieces such as ‘Be True to Your School’ (2010) and ‘Guilty Pleasures’ (2007-). 

“A sense of relatability also comes through strongly in works that highlight simple production methods and ideas of amateurism.”

Phil Collins, ‘dunia tak akan mendengar’, 2007, Part three of ‘the world won’t listen’ (2004–2007). Colour video with sound, 56 min. Image courtesy Shady Lane Productions, Berlin.

Moving along this tangent, Phil Collin’s ‘dunia tak akan mendegar’ (2007) depicts Indonesian superfans of the British band The Smiths performing tracks from the compilation album ‘The World Won’t Listen’. Collin’s nearly hour-long film captures heartfelt and awkward renditions as these young people give it their all, despite being non-native English speakers. Though the work hopes to celebrate how “a passion for music can transcend skill or ability”, the asymmetrical dynamics between the artist and the performers is disquieting, and there may be audiences who will find it out of sync in today’s consciousness.  

Cory Arcangel, ‘Arnold Schoenberg Op 11 – I-III – Cute Kittens’, 2009, 3 YouTube Videos © Cory Arcangel. Image courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery.

The exhibition closes on a playful note with Cory Arcangel’s ‘Arnold Schoenberg Op 11 – I-III – Cute Kittens’ (2009). Made up of seemingly random Youtube videos of cats playing piano, the work is a note-by-note recreation of Schoenberg’s 1909 composition, which is often considered the first piece of music in the western tradition to break away from a single tonal centre or key. True to the open source culture that inspired his work, Arcangel shares the entire process of making the video on his website. As such, the piece not only speaks to our evolving relationship with music, but also raises thoughtful questions about the notion of authorship and its value in the Internet age. 

At a time when the pandemic has moved the exhibition format towards the digital, ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’ boldly re-emphasises the importance of experiencing artworks in person. “This is a show that is embodied,” says Harger. “The sound moves through the body. It is very specific to the experience of being in the galleries. This is really an exhibition you have to enjoy physically.” And it is a highly engaging experience well worth a visit. 

‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’ runs from 28 August 2021 to 2 January 2022 at ArtScience Museum. More information here.