Cave of Sounds won the 2014 Sonic Arts Award and continues to tour internationally, recently completing a one year exhibition at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan from 2022-23.
Cave of Sounds is one of the most successful examples of an interactive installation I’ve ever seen. Its elegant simplicity and expert execution drew me to it: this work is inclusive and fun, and most of all sounds great.
We have always paid particular attention to the centrality of the visitor in their learning and experience at the Museum, ... Tim Murray-Browne's work is a perfect interpretation of our approach: visitors use sensory-motor actions as the way to experience science and technology and to express themselves an active and participatory way. Exhibiting Cave of Sounds at the Museum was a wonderful opportunity to enrich people’s experience and learning.
Cave of Sounds emerged from an open ended process which I began in 2012 as composer in residence at Music Hackspace, London. I announced an open call to join an experimental collective of musicians who would each create an instrument encapsulating their individual identities and musical practice. We met regularly in a process akin to a ten month jam session for musical instrument designers. We showcased the first prototype of the work at the Barbican in 2013, seen in the video above.
Following several years of evolution and international touring, we received a grant from Arts Council England in 2017 to complete the project. This final form, shown below, was debuted at Athens Science Festival in 2018.
The musicologist Small argues that any musical ritual, from an orchestral recital to an illegal rave, serves to celebrate or reinforce a particular model of how society is sociopolitically organised. In this light, Cave of Sounds challenges the specialisation of creative expression within contemporary society, and, for many, the relegation of artistic experience to passive consumption. It embodies the human capacity for social organisation that emerges organically and without hierarchy. Through collective action, empowered by accessible technology, the work is a flagbearer for the maker movement, grassroots activism and a vision that empowers individual agency in a post-industrial world.
The open call had no selection process. After the first meeting, eight of us chose to remain. We worked through an experimental process of group improvisation, akin to a jam session for instrument builders, stretched over months and years. Each of us created one instrument. We met regularly to share ideas, experiment, listen and discover what themes and ideas resonated. Without hierarchy or an authoritative vision, musical roles emerged organically as we found our niche within the ensemble. We were a tight group - all eight of us continued until the first public exhibition of the work 10 months later, and we're still friends today.
Over five years, the piece evolved in response to international audiences and spaces, creating an ongoing dialogue between audience, artists and environment. After completing the installation into its final format in 2018, the project was declared complete.
Cave of Sounds challenges the industrialised notion of music as a service from producer to consumer, inviting audiences to be active explorers within a musical ensemble. It is unusual in how it appeals evenly to young children, teenagers, adults and seniors. Part of this is due to each instrument combining playfulness with the depth and intentionality that invites further creative investigation. But there is something beyond this in the atmosphere of the work: engagement, energy and community.
Most recently at Athens Science Festival, I was talking to a volunteering scientist who kept returning to watch people interact with Cave of Sounds. She told me that in the chaos of the festival she found the space uniquely relaxing. There was no shortage of quiet spaces, but there is a different kind of calm created by the collective musical activity of Cave of Sounds. You are able to belong, to think, to feel the energy of others without any demands on yourself.
Team
The original Cave of Sounds team in 2013. From the left: Tim Murray-Browne, Tadeo Sendon, Kacper Ziemianin, Sus Garcia, Dom Aversano, Daniel Lopez, Wallace Hobbes, Panagiotis Tigas.
In 2017, the team was joined by Terry Tyldesley as Producer and Anastasia Alekseeva and Harry Murdoch as Production Assistants. The set for the completed was designed and built by Sets Appeal.
In 2020, a significant upgrade happened with help from Kevin Murray, James Gardner and Andrew Kirkby.
Exhibitions were supported by Jan-Ming Lee, Chrisanthi Livadiotis, Ben Koppelman, Kevin Blankenship, Mim Briggs, Javier Carles, Joshua Gardner, Georgia Grant, Ting-an Lin, Lia Mice, Sabrina Recoules, Florian Stagliano, Kasia Uscinska, Adriana Minu, Niall Black.
Exhibitions
- Oct 2022 - Sep 2023, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milan
- Feb - Nov 2021, Museum of Discovery, Adelaide, Australia
- 29-30 Sep 2018, Watermans Arts Centre, London
- 25-29 Apr 2018, Athens Science Festival, London
- 8 Sep 2016, Village Underground, London
- 17-20 Sep 2015, Waterloo Innovation Summit, Canada
- 11-14 Sep 2014, 90dB Festival Internazionale Arti Sonore, Rome
- 1-3 Nov 2013, Watermans Gallery, London
- 21 Sep 2013, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- 19-26 Aug 2013 The Barbican, London
- 18-19 May 2013, Music Tech Fest, London
Awards
- STARTS Prize 2018 (Nomination)
- Sonic Arts Award 2014 (Digital Art category)
Press
- Mi-Lorenteggio, Cave of Sounds, da domenica 23 ottobre al Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia la nuova installazione interattiva di arte digitale, 20 Oct 2022
- Today (Italy), Museo della Scienza, arte digitale e musica per nuove connessioni, 20 Oct 2022
- Libero TV, Museo della Scienza, arte digitale e musica per nuove connessioni, 20 Oct 2022
- Media Key, Cave of Sounds di Tim Murray-Browne & Music Hackspace Ense...], 20 Oct 2022
- La Milano, Milano, Cave of Sounds al Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia, 20 Oct 2022
- CNN, Music 'hackers' unleash new generation of cool and bizarre instruments, 14 May 2014
- 4pt5.com, Hacking to make music a collaborative experience, 4 Dec 2012
- The Creators Project, Step into The Cave of Sounds, 1 Nov 2013
Acknowledgements
Cave of Sounds was created by Tim Murray-Browne with Dom Aversano, Sus Garcia, Wallace Hobbes, Daniel Lopez, Tadeo Sendón, Panagiotis Tigas and Kacper Ziemianin through Sound and Music's Embedded Composer in Residence programme working with the Music Hackspace. The Embedded programme is funded by Esmée Fairbairn and realised through support from the Arts Council England.
The residency was mentored by Duncan Chapman and Atau Tanaka. Special thanks for support to Hannah Bujic, Susanna Eastburn and Nick Sherrard from Sound and Music, Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut and Martin Klang from the Music Hackspace, Somerset House Studios, The Centre for Creative Collaboration, Troyganic and the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of London for providing creative working space, Mind The Film for producing the video of our work above, as well as Jenny Attwater and the many who provided insightful feedback on early prototypes of the work.
