Audiosphere. Sound Experimentation 1980-2020

Exhibition ‘Audiosphere’ Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain) 14 October 2020 – 11 January 2021 Curated by Francisco Lopez

By way of a selection of hundreds of sound works, Audiosphere. Sound Experimentation 1980-2020 looks to cover an historical and cultural void in terms of the recognition, exhibition and analysis of a key part of the recent changes that have taken place in the artistic conception of sound creation.

Conceived from a social perspective, and with the aim of revealing and providing context to reflect upon and discuss the techno-cultural changes that have occurred since the 1980s, the exhibition will present the work of a broad number of experimental sound artists, hailing from all over the world, the majority unknown to the contemporary art spectator. 

The show will revolve around seven sections, each one addressing different social, technological, historical and cultural processes: genealogies, networks, mega accessibility, cyborgisation, aesthetogenesis, recombination and rights. Although such processes have been generated collectively and today are widespread, they have not been sufficiently identified, acknowledged or analysed artistically. 

Audiosphere thus seeks to constitute a non-conceptual, large-scale contemporary art exhibition with no images or objects, underpinned solely by sound works and an exhibition design that facilitates experiential, profound and prolonged listening.