From a single utterance, to the pronunciation of a name and the declaration of an idea, the voice is a tool through which we assert our presence in the world. The use of the voice as a means of protest and as a metaphor for self-representation is central to this exhibition. By bringing together the work of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Caroline Bergvall, Amar Kanwar, Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen, Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar, Pallavi Paul and Mithu Sen – including audio documentary, video, performance, text and sound – this exhibition takes a moment to listen to the harmony and dissonance of voices rising.

Artist Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen presents a newly commissioned work that grounds the relevance of the voice – singular and collective, celebrated and silenced – in the localities neighbouring Tate Modern in London and Khoj, International Artists’ Association in New Delhi. Larsen encounters the lives of four young men, continents apart who show deep sadness, sheer belief and aspiration as they attempt to find expression and empowerment. United through hip-hop culture dance, rap and poetry become means to raise their voices in the face of adversity.

Project Space: Word. Sound. Power. is curated by Loren Hansi Momodu at Tate Modern and Andi-Asmita Rangari, Khoj, International Artists’ Association, New Delhi. The curatorial exchange is organised with the collaboration of Gasworks.

*image (left)
Conflicted Phonemes 2012 (detail)
© Lawrence Abu Hamdan with Janna Ullrich

Courtesy of Tate Modern