Listening becomes a multi-faceted, full-body experience at The Barbican’s immersive sound exhibition Feel the Sound.
“Listening is not passive,” says Dame Evelyn Glennie, “it’s transformative.” Her voice resounds around the Observatory Station space, delivering the grounding principles of the Barbican’s Feel the Sound exhibition. Running from 22 May to 31 August, the immersive experience, composed of eleven different installations, asks visitors to reimagine their relationship to sound. Listening becomes more than an unconscious act; it is a multisensory experience, where external waves meet internal vibrations.
“The idea was to create an exploration of sound that didn’t feel like the usual expectations of a sound exhibition,” explains Luke Kemp, curator at the Barbican, “I wanted this to be an experience that people could sense in a myriad of ways.”
The perception of sound becomes multifaceted, with visitors embarking on a sonic journey of discovery, starting with Miyu Hosoi’s Observatory Station. Twelve speakers line the walls of the Silk Street entrance, playing field recordings collected from locations around the world. Visitors become immersed in the everyday soundscapes of others from across the globe, encouraging cross-border connection through active listening.
Feel the Sound features two sonic playground spaces, where participants are encouraged to engage with sound with playful curiosity. Jan St Werner’s vibrational plate sends powerful waves through the body, propelled by carefully composed, low-frequency patterns. Meanwhile, Stacco by the Intelligent Instruments Lab allows the creation of unique soundscapes through interaction with magnets. As sound becomes tactile and changeable, we consider our role as the makers of sound: “Each of these is a challenge to consider where music and sound come from, and what it could be,” says Kemp.
“Sound can be an instant portal through time, but when it is remixed and retuned, it can make us think differently about the present and the future as well.”
Luke Kemp
Music and sound become tools to explore our past, present and future selves in Forever Frequencies by Domestic Data Streamers. Visitors are invited to recall their first musical memory and look ahead to the moments they have yet to experience. Advanced AI technology generates an individual melody based on the responses, creating a sense of future nostalgia.
Temporary Pleasure’s Joyride installation spills out into the Barbican’s car park, unlocking a passage into a Y2K-era underground rave, complete with modified car sound systems. “Sound can be an instant portal through time, but when it is remixed and retuned, it can make us think differently about the present and the future as well,” says Kemp.
The stand-out installation pulls together multiple threads of the exhibition, as visitors can contribute to an ever-expanding choral performance. The UN/BOUND installation was designed by TRANS VOICES, the U.K.’s first professional trans+ vocal collective, in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist ILĀ, and MONOM, a Berlin-based spatial sound studio.
“There was always the intention to have a strong vocal performance in the exhibition. A moment that could be a pure sound exploration,” explains Kemp, “The idea of the choir is a place where voices can become one, where you are no longer a single voice, but you can become connected with others.”
UN/BOUND is an act of collective expression, where every visitor is invited to join a global community of resistance. In a darkly lit space, an evocative vocal performance plays over the sound system, overlapping disembodied melodies with rousing hums, riffs and whispers, which listeners can add to at one of the microphone stations.
“Today, trans rights, voices and identities are being significantly marginalized. When considering identity, belonging and being, it was important to showcase a work that could demonstrate what is sacrificed and what is retained in the pursuit of self-determination.”
The exhibition culminates with an act of reflective silence. The Heightened Lyric installation, designed by Raymond Antrobus, a poet and author with high-frequency deafness, features seven kites displaying the British Sign Language interpretations of poems exploring the interplay between sound and silence.
“There is no single narrative to how we understand sound. It is deeply personal, while being a huge human connector,” says Kemp. “Exploring how this feeling across cultures can bring us together as humans and to think about what kind of humans we want to be is an experience that is felt on an international scale.”
Following its initial run at the Barbican, the exhibition will embark on an international tour, including co-producer MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives in Tokyo, which is scheduled to open in 2026. Among those involved in Feel the Sound’s curation, there is a hope that visitors adopt these approaches to active listening in their daily lives.
“As the world is inundated with visual information, we believe that re-examining sound and music as the most unified forms of expression with the human body, and reconnecting music and “us” will provide an opportunity to imagine the future narratives of humanity,” says Maholo Uchida, Director of MoN Takanawa. “Everyone who visits the exhibition will experience a new world full of rich sounds and musical power.”
Homepage banner image, “Embodied Listening Playground”; homepage image “Joyride, Temporary Pleasure.”, inside image,”Sonic Listening Playground.” All images courtesy of the Barbican.
