RCA is '… all silent but for the buzzing …'

Associated media

Open: 6–23 March, 11a.m.–6p.m. daily. Free admission.

Graduating RCA Curating Contemporary Art students present an international group exhibition that explores the indistinct spaces that lie between chatter and silence.

John Cage,   Henri Chopin, Marlene Haring, Patrick Coyle, Patrick Hough, Jacob Kirkegaard, Liz Magic Laser, Lina Lapelytė, Ian Giles, Hassan Meer, Nástio Mosquito, Laure Prouvost, Ryder Ripps, Alex Schweder, John Stezaker, Jon Wozencroft

Taking its title from Samuel Beckett’s Not I (1972),… ‘all silent but for the buzzing …’ aims to transport the distant whispering of Beckett’s play into the exhibition space. Viewers are invited to experience a variety of media, scales and spectra of sounds through artists’ installations, sculptures, collages and performances.

Distant whispering becomes overwhelming chatter as John Stezaker’s charged video collage creates a sensory bombardment of repetitive images. Omani artist Hassan Meer’s video installation immerses the viewer in a contemplative experience of both physical and psychological suppression. Patrick Hough investigates the construction and representation of historical objects and their narratives in the present, while the provocative videos of Angolan artist and musician Nástio Mosquito creates an audiovisual cacophony to question stereotypes of communication and cultural identity. Liz Magic Laser further emphasizes the performative and political strategies of media rhetoric.

In more intimate moments, viewers can participate in Marlene Haring’s Solo Show (Face Up) (2012), a bar for one guest at a time. The internal and personal experience of sound defines Jacob Kirkegaard’s installation Labyrinthitis (2008), as well as an interactive audio guide, including Turner Prize winning artist Laure Prouvost’s Pink Cloud (2013). The audio guide will also feature an integration of sound art and performance by Lina Lapelytė, whom Brian Eno recognizes as ‘working right at the edge of what popular music could become’.

‘…all silent but for the buzzing…’ includes a programme of events with workshops, talks and performances on 15 and 16 March, and an accompanying publication featuring a visual essay.

Royal College of Art Galleries
Kensington Gore
London
SW7 2EU