'We make doors and windows for a room;
But it is these empty spaces that make the room liveable.
Thus while the tangible has advantages
It is the intangible that makes it useful'
Lao, Tzu, Tao Teh Ching, ch.ii (St. John’s University Press, Brooklyn, NY, 1961)
Room Tone is concerned with appropriating the spacial awkwardness of the room. It makes an enquiry into the space it is situated. It refers to a presence even when no dialogue is spoken. The word 'lydhør' translates into a state of attentive- and responsiveness, consisting of both lyd- (sound) and -hørt (heard); linguistically both relating to an audible perception. When in a state of lydhørt-ness, it often implies a deeper state of listening, which goes beyond the audible. In an awareness of the surroundings we find ourselves in, the phenomenological, internal and intangible are qualities through how we experience our reality.
The development of the exhibition Room Tone discusses a variety of ideas relating to absence of the body, verbal overshadowing, psychic experiences and speculative realism. We had an urge to expand on these ideas and give attention into the actual space where it was to be: the gallery space and the alternative space of a publication. Room Tone is the second instalment of LYDHØRT, showing two installations each by Skogsberg and Oledal, whilst the publication contains Liam Sprod’s essay 'Impossibilities of Space' and a conversation between Liv Bugge and Julie Lillelien Porter about Bugge's videowork '54 Questions to a Dead Magician'. The publication can be accessed in Lydgalleriet's listening library.
Room Tone is supported by Arts Council Norway.