Sounding the Void, Imaging the Orchestra V.1 

A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa

7 June - 15 August 2019

With Vivian Caccuri, Chris Chafe, Nick Cave, Andrew Pekler, Robin Rhode, Sahel Sounds, Jenna Sutela, and Phantom Power



Photographs: Kyle Morland
How we listen determines what we hear.


Through a diverse set of artistic approaches, this project draws attention to the histories, conditions, and subjective experiences that inform practices of listening. Record albums, podcasts, web releases, along with installations and sculpture, examine the poetic, speculative and critical capacity of sound and listening.

The works presented excavate historical accounts, interrogate societal and cultural attitudes, and reconstruct narratives in ways that encourage imaginative processes. From amplifying ecological realities, the charting of once-sighted islands, to the transmission of messages from bacteria that cannot speak, Sounding the Void, Imaging the Orchestra V.1 calls upon listening as a form of world-making.

Featuring works by Vivian Caccuri, Chris Chafe, Nick Cave, Jared Ginsburg, Andrew Pekler, Robin Rhode, Sahel Sounds, and Jenna Sutela, in addition to a selection of podcasts from Phantom Power and audio media from Nothing to Commit Records, Sounding the Void, Imaging the Orchestra V.1 invites the question:

What generative opportunity lies in the act of tactful listening?








Mark