07 Nov 2017

Sarah Rose, Susannah Stark and Hanna Tuulikki in Lilt, Twang, Tremor – a new exhibition exploring voice at CCA Glasgow

For Lilt, Twang, Tremor, CCA has invited three Scottish-based artists – Sarah Rose, Susannah Stark and Hanna Tuulikki – whose work examines the politics and production of voice. Looking at how the voice takes shape in different places and environments, this exhibition explores the contexts in which voices are made audible. Examining the mouth, the mouthless voice, the embodied and disembodied voice, the voice as a tool, and as an instrument, the artists question the manner in which vocals affect the environment around us.

Sarah Rose's practice results from an interest in how the voice constructs prejudice and bias, investigating the vocal transmission of information, such as rumour, translation and inflection. Responding to the limitations of printed text, she explores how the unwritten voice might reject a gendering of narrative. Her sculptural installations examine how objects hold sound and tell stories in space, and how information is shaped through its oral communication. Through an in-depth research into specific materials, climates and histories, her work in Lilt, Twang, Tremor – sculptural installations representing sound using sponge, air, glass and powder, and a listening event – aims to locate the political within sound, volume and material.

Susannah Stark focuses on the power and placement of the voice, questioning how language is used in a technology-driven, digital and capitalist culture. With many works questioning how voice functions within the context of urban space, she investigates the translation of voice into material and cultural experience. Collaborating with musician Donald Hayden – and inspired by writings on the ancient Greek cynics – she merges the economic, cultural, spiritual and personal into a rotating narration of the contradictions of contemporary living, using digital media, sound, and song. For this exhibition, Stark will create an agora – an open public speaking space from ancient Greek culture – and a new surround sound work recorded with Hayden, alongside collage, audio and moving image.

Hanna Tuulikki's practice as a composer, artist and performer considers the voice as a meeting point between the self and the world. She investigates ways in which the body communicates beyond and before words, telling stories through imitation, vocalisation and gesture. Often exploring music and movement traditions across cultures, she is particularly interested in how bodily relationships and folk histories relate within specific environments and places. With a strong connection to landscape, nature and ritual, her works explore an ecology of the world through textured tapestries of performances, audio visual installations and visual score drawings. In Lilt, Twang, Tremor, there will be a development of her existing works on display in the gallery, and a performance event.

CCA Curator Ainslie Roddick said: 'A key part of CCA's exhibition programme is our work with Scottish-based artists. With this show we're looking at critical aspects of each of these three artists' practices – working with sound and voice through materiality, space and the body. Each artist has a broad range of influences and interests but in this show they come together to create a focused conversation on the representation of female, bodily, public and private voices, and the use of sound within the gallery context.'

Taking its title from a quote from the preface of Ann Karpf's book The Human Voice where she states: 'Our lilt, twang or tremor are eloquent beyond words,' this exhibition examines how the human voice can mystify, calm, incite, deceive, change spaces and disturb our understanding of ourselves and our communities.


Lilt, Twang, Tremor
Sarah Rose, Susannah Stark & Hanna Tuulikki

Sat 18 November 2017 – Sun 14 January 2018
Tue-Sat: 11am-6pm // Sun: 12noon-6pm // Free // Preview: Fri 17 November, 7pm-9pm
Closed: Monday 25 December – Tuesday 3 January

Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD
www.cca-glasgow.com

Events:
Nina Power – Workshop, Mon 11 Dec, 6.30pm, Free but ticketed
Artist events in December and January will be announced soon.