Come Sing Along! On Raising Our Voices

The exhibition Come Sing Along! On Raising Our Voices explores singing as an act of resistance and empowerment through the lens of contemporary art. The show brings together about 20 artists for whom singing forms an essential point of reference. Reinterpretation, appropriation and the participatory dimension of singing play a particular role. In this sense, the title Come Sing Along! On Raising Our Voices is a call to unite around common ideals and goals. It thus underscores the political dimension of singing together. When artists explore the origins of popular songs or adopt traditional forms such as lyrical singing or ballads combining them with contemporary themes and meanings, politics and nostalgia, tradition and modernity come together.

In several projects, the transcultural appropriation of music functions as an empowerment strategy. These artists use music as a way to oppose the systematic oppression and disenfranchisement of minorities by giving them a voice. The works in the exhibition relate in various ways to traditional choral forms, from the chorus of ancient tragedy, through the chorales in classical music all the way to the chants intoned during political demonstrations.

The exhibition addresses these issues with sound and video installations, sculptures, drawings and paintings by various contemporary artists, many of whom are presenting their works in Austria for the first time. Several works newly created for the exhibition invite visitors to raise their voices as well. 

Artists: Sammy Baloji, Chto Delat, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Clément Cogitore, Ines Doujak, Noam Enbar, Nikolaus Gansterer, Mathilde Ter Heijne, Christian Jankowski, Dejan Kaludjerović, Mikhail Karikis & Uriel Orlow, Helmut & Johanna Kandl, Anton Kolig, Nengi Omuku, Maria Lassnig & Hubert Sielecki, Rory Pilgrim, Ayumi Paul, Gerhard Rühm, Henk Schut, Bartolina Xixa, Bruce Yonemoto, Otto Zitko

Curators: Hemma Schmutz, Klaus Speidel, Sarah Jonas

Exhibition design: Jakob Neulinger

For press inquiries, please contact clarissa.ujvari-hanten@lentos.at, or dowload materials from  Presse: Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz.