When an architect designs a building, or a gallery space gets prepared to exhibit works of art, is the role of sound taken into consideration? What if the art in the exhibition consists of sound installations as opposed to visual arts? In Sound in Context, a short documentary by the Sound and Music organisation, the role of sound within the visual arts world is explored. 

People like David Toop, Richard Whitelaw and Benedict Drew, among others, discuss the invisible nature of this time-based medium we are dealing with here, and how many curators and art experts are not used to it. Another subject they cover is the value of sound art. Can it be sold? In what way? Should an artist give away CDs with recordings of sound installations? A very interesting subject which makes Sound in Context an interesting documentary to watch, apart from the soporific way some of these sound artist tell their story (they are probably not used to be recorded in a visual way).    

I have not seen the documentary yet, but watching this trailer makes me absolutely want to! In Trimpin: the sound of invention, San Fransisco filmmaker Peter Esmonde follows the artist Trimpin on his inspiring journey into the world of sound.

Trimpin is a wizard when it comes to sound installations, music making machines and building new musical instruments. In this documentary we can see him collaborate with the Kronos Quartet, designing a perpetual motion sculpture, building a tower of self-tuning, automatic electric guitars, among others.

Via Joachim Baan