“It Always Sounds Somewhere: Sounding Sound Practice in Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong Since the 1990s” at Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum

Beijing Oomph 2025 Oomph is a curated roundup of the best contemporary art exhibitions and events held by galleries, museums, and institutions in town during Gallery Weekend Beijing (GWBJ), taking place from May 23 to June 1, 2025.

“It Always Sounds Somewhere: Sounding Sound Practice in Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong Since the 1990s” explores the history and evolution of sound practice in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong from the 1990s to the present. The exhibition examines sound as a dynamic and pervasive form of practice, probing its capacity to engage with reality. Rooted in over a decade of research and fieldwork by British curator and researcher Dr. Edward Sanderson, this exhibition draws from his extensive observations, experiences, and recordings of sound practices in both regions. Featuring nearly 60 works by over 60 artists, it places particular emphasis on recent works by those who have shaped the landscape of sound creation over the past 20 years. Alongside these works, the exhibition presents a rich archive of materials documenting sound practice since the 1990s—videos, photographs, manuscripts, design sketches, web pages, and objects—offering a historical lens through which these practices are revisited within the museum space. There is no shortcut to understanding sound works through discourse alone; instead, we must trace the paths of sound itself, returning to the places where these sounds first emerged—underground passageways, air-raid shelters, barber shops, living rooms, autonomous spaces, and ephemeral performances in online spaces. Here, individual voices break through the harmony of uniform tuning, carving out spaces of self-expression and seeking out their own audiences within different realities. Or perhaps, by removing our noise-canceling headphones, we follow the sound waves through Hutongs, fields, mountains, and along the seashore, allowing the ambient public sounds—often relegated to the background—to momentarily take over our private auditory world. Sound emerges anywhere, anytime, slipping in and out of different realities, unfolding like time in motion. This exhibition, both site-responsive and rigorously conceived, restores the vitality of sound practice within its historical and cultural contexts, offering viewers a comprehensive perspective on its origins and development.

at Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum
until June 1, 2025