Listening on Display

Exhibiting Sounding Artworks, 1960s to the Present

Linnea Semmerling (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Listening on Display

Exhibiting Sounding Artworks, 1960s to the Present

Linnea Semmerling (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Hardback ~~$175.50~~ $157.95 Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ~~$157.95~~ $126.36 Ebook (PDF) ~~$157.95~~ $126.36

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Description

Listening on Display provides an empirical investigation of the historically, culturally, and socially contingent ways in which artists, curators, and visitors relate to sounds in contemporary art exhibitions.

Since the 1960s, sounding artworks regularly appear in exhibitions of contemporary art. However, scholars of art history, musicology, sound studies, and museum studies lament the experiential difficulties of this development. They describe how sounds challenge the sensory hierarchy of the museum, how they disrupt the venerable silence of the white cube, or how they drown in the overall noise level of the galleries.

This book examines the listening experiences of artists, visitors, curators, and technicians in more than twenty exhibitions that have taken place at contemporary art museums, alternative art spaces, and other venues in Germany and the US since the 1960s. Through archival research, visitor book analysis, interviews, and observations drawing on sensory ethnography, the book brings together their ideas and ideals about aesthetic ambitions, sensory abilities, cultural conventions, and technological standards.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Listening on Display
1. Studying Exhibitions with Sounding Artworks: Methodological Reflections
2. The Exhibition as Social Ritual: How to Do Things with Sound
3. The Exhibition as Institutional Convention: Rehearsing Sensory Repertoires
4. The Exhibition as Taskscape: Negotiations of Attention
Conclusions: Beyond Noisy White Cubes and Silent Black Boxes
Appendix: Exhibition Overview
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Published	Feb 05 2026
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Pages	232
ISBN	9798765136232
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions	229 x 152 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Linnea Semmerling

Linnea Semmerling is Assistant Professor in Sound…

Sound exhibited in art galleries demands scholarly attention. Linnea Semmerling listens to others' listening-interviewing curators and observing visitors across twenty exhibitions since the 1960s. This approach transforms our understanding of sound in art galleries, making a vital scholarly contribution.

Caleb Kelly, Associate Professor of Media Art Theory, UNSW School of Art & Design, Australia
Sounds are ephemeral, energetic and resistant to containment. How is it possible to exhibit them? This book explores the burgeoning role of listening in exhibitions at contemporary art museums since the 1960s, the ingenious techniques used by artists and curators to stage sounding artworks, and the response of visitors – some very attuned and others who tune out. Linnea Semmerling is a brilliant archival researcher and sensory ethnographer, hence the perfect guide for this auditory odyssey. Listening on Display is a soundmark contribution to the sensory studies and multisensory museology literature.

David Howes, author of The Sensory Studies Manifesto (2022)