Sound Reasons Festival kicks off on November 21

Zimoun's sound sculpture comprising 80 prepared DC motors, cotton balls and cardboard boxes

Eighty cardboard boxes, fitted with cotton balls and connected to motors. This seemingly basic setup is actually a sound sculpture by renowned Swiss sound artist Zimoun. Curated by Ish Sherawat, a musician and sound artist, this installation by Zimoun is part of the Sound Reasons Festival, a collaboration between Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council and Bhau Daji Lad museum. The show comprises works by Zimoun and Ish.

"Zimoun has wanted to do a show in India for a while. His installation is a multi-layered, architecturally conceptualised mechanism, comprising cardboard boxes, connected to motors. Each box has a cotton ball and each motor is set at a different speed. The sound is produced by the resonance when the cotton ball hits the box. His approach is to transform everyday materials into an experience in sound. In this sculpture, it's a different sound you hear each minute. And what you hear is what you see. Sound is near impossible to describe in words. This needs to be experienced," says the curator.

Sherawat's own installation is of another kind. Unlike Zimoun, who has worked solely with sound, Ish makes use of visuals, too.

"Using a visual doesn't take away from the fact that it is still a sound sculpture. This is an intersection of two of my works. Here, the moving image frames the sound and in turn, the sound frames the moving image," says Ish whose installation is titled A Moth and a Room. "The moths project this majestic beauty but are very fragile and do not like being touched. To draw a parallel to this, I've used a midnight raga to portray introverted darkness and solitude," explains Sherawat. In his other work, Faulty Scales Can Weigh You Correctly, in every corner of the room, the sound heard is different, says the artist. "The experience is a culmination of both imagination and reality. It becomes what I call the ‘spatial heterotopia'."

Ish Sherawat, the curator

Speaking of his own interest in the medium, Sherawat says, "I am a musician, but, I am not interested in music that is only a cultural aggregator. As a sound artist, I feel this form of art has more room for creative thinking. One must remember that sound is actually created in the listening of it, and in its inventions is the imagination of the listener. That's the kind of sound art that appeals to me."

Where: Bhau Daji Lad Museum

When: Walkthrough on November 21

Call: 23731234