Frozen Music: Whispers

Frozen Music: Whispers, Bureau Europa, Maastricht, The Netherlands

16 Dec 2022 - 28 May 2023

Frozen Music: About the design of sound and space. Music and architecture speak the same language of rhythm, contrast, proportion, dynamics and harmony. Music also has its own architecture: from the design of instruments to the aesthetics of the notation itself. In the Frozen Music exhibition, the design of space and sound is explored with interactive installations, art, film and music, architectural drawings and models.

Music and architecture speak the same language of rhythm, contrast, proportion, dynamics and harmony. The composer and the master builder have inspired each other for centuries. From mimicking the sounds of nature to fascination with the human voice, even the modern electrical environment of the 21st century is a source of inspiration for modern sound artists. Music also has its own architecture: from the design of instruments to the aesthetic of the notation itself. Human beings are tuning forks that intuitively sense harmony – in music, but also in architecture. In the exhibition Frozen Music, the design of space and sound is explored with interactive installations, art, film and music, architectural drawings and models.

Music was often written to activate buildings for specific purposes, such as religious worship. Thus, the two disciplines moved in tandem for many years, with the composer and architect mutually influencing each other. Pérotin, composer at Notre Dame in Paris, even based his music notation on the shapes of Gothic architecture: you play music by reading a construction drawing.

As music progressed from something played in the background to performing art, special concert halls were designed with precise acoustic environments. Acoustics became a design discipline for optimising the listening experience. Theatre conventions conform to this enhancement: the auditorium goes dark, and the audience falls silent. Music should be experienced without distractions.

The music of the city
How different it is in daily life, where sound is unavoidable and not held in high regard. Our densely populated cities have become sound boxes due to the materials of contemporary architecture and increased traffic. Sound is therefore no longer a peripheral concern in urban design but must be actively designed. But how do you design silence, and how do you design sound?

From the closing of a car door to the sound of its engine, and from the rhythm of a shopping cart rolling over a supermarket’s tile floors to the meaningless background music in elevators and parking garages, a surprising amount of sound has been composed and designed. The buildings we inhabit and the streets we walk even make music. Wood sounds different to brick, which sounds different to glass, which sounds different to concrete. Walk through the city and listen to all the sounds as if they were one composition. This is the music of the city.

With works and contributions by Bartlebooth (Antonio Giráldez López & Pablo Ibáñez Ferrera, with Alberto de Miguel, horror.vacui & Aurora Saseta) | Coussée Goris Huyge architecten | Herzog & De Meuron | Het Nieuwe Instituut | Joep Hinssen | Leopold Inkapööl | Arata Isozaki & Associates | Mikhail Karikis | Jacob Kirkegaard | Otomax, i.s.m. Michiel Ubels | Sóley Sigurjónsdóttir | Sarah van Sonsbeeck | Strijbos & Van Rijswijk, i.s.m. Pierluigi Pompeï | Christy Westhovens