Challenging the idea that sculpture is a silent art, With Hidden Noise presents a selection of objects, sculptures and videos that are both evocative and illustrative of voice and voice throwing.
With Hidden Noise is the first exhibition to look at sculpture and video art and the ways in which both media have been animated by ventriloquism.
Looking at the relationship between an object and its operator, the sculpture and its maker, the viewer and the viewed, the exhibition examines ways in which sculptors have expressed themselves through the things they have made, and how sculptures have subsequently been given the power to ‘speak’.
With Hidden Noise presents works that open up a range of narratives and ventriloquist themes: from stories of collaborative making, tales of displaced responsibility, theatrical autobiographies and uncanny confessions, to video performances of political and psychological conflicts.
The exhibition brings together works that play on our ability to suspend disbelief, but which are also resonant of our anxieties over mimicry, illusion and literalism. It includes recent examples by artists who work with video but who describe themselves as sculptors, as well as a selection of works by well-known artists, like Duchamp and Morris, which are re-interpreted with ventriloquism and voice in mind.