Hear! Hear! Kimball Art Center’s (Re)sounding

With the Wasatch Range to the west and the Uintas peaking to the east, Park City is a veritable Walden Pond of the West, where art lives in every vista as much as it does in the community. Nowhere is that vital and vibrant spirit more apparent than at Kimball Art Center, Park City’s longest-standing nonprofit. Open Tuesday-Saturday, the center features year-round rotating exhibitions of contemporary art from all over the world. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the center’s opening this year, Kimball remains as dedicated as ever to founder Bill Kimball’s vision of making art both accessible and personal.

“Contemporary artists are such important storytellers of the world that we live in and connectors between ourselves and the people in the world around us,” says curator Nancy Stoaks. It’s this guiding philosophy that inspired Stoaks for the center’s upcoming exhibition, “(Re)sounding,” which opens on May 15. “I like introducing people to all different kinds of work,” Stoaks says. “Sometimes when you come, you’ll find a beautiful oil painting, but sometimes you’re going to find something completely different, made out of materials that you never thought an artist would use to make work, or just something that challenges your idea of what art can be.”

“(Re)sounding” is exactly that: an exhibition that explores the relationship between the audible and the visible, featuring immersive installations, interactive systems, soundscape sculptures and innovative art that “approaches sound not simply as something we hear, but as something we inhabit, shape and are shaped by,” Stoaks says. Sounds cool, right? It will be. Featuring the works of interdisciplinary, sound and media artists like Jon Bernson and Christine Sun Kim, this is an exhibition that invites visitors to participate in — and reflect on their own — sonic landscapes.

“Contemporary artists are such important storytellers of the world that we live in and connectors between ourselves and the people in the world around us.”

Bernson will be installing a site-specific work of suspended antique tape players for “(Re)sounding,” previously shown at the Minnesota Street Project. The tapes will be playing sounds at Kimball inspired by the space itself, where Bernson will be “working with something that was already there, but where I felt the sound could add a component to the space that might one day be there or that one might imagine is there if cued by the sound.” Walking around will be like creating your own personal mixed tape, Bernson says.

“I really enjoy interacting with the physical space, whether it’s a gallery, or museum, or public space, or theater or film set; whatever it is, these become characters in and of themselves, and so I’m excited to see what mysteries the physical space has to offer and how that can be brought to life in a refreshing way by something that I’m creating,” Bernson says. This immersive interactivity will be one of the most unique aspects of the exhibition; works shown like “The Ambient Machine” by Yuri Suzuki and the soundscaped quilts of Utahn artists Mary Toscano and Andrew Rease Shaw will encourage visitors to engage with the tactile and visual aspects of sound.

“I really enjoy interacting with the physical space, whether it’s a gallery, or museum, or public space, or theater or film set; whatever it is.”

This unique exhibit invites visitors to think about sound in critical ways — ways that Stoaks says she hopes will inspire a practice of deep listening. Sun Kim’s work explores the physical, cultural and social dimensions of sound, highlighting in particular the experience of sound and the way it is translated for non-hearing people. Similarly, Christian Marclay’s work interrogates the ways sight and sound can both enrich and challenge one another. Jacob Kirkegaard’s work draws attention to the sonic landscapes of often unnoticed enviroments; for “(Re)sounding,” his work will explore the massive global waste management system.

“(Re)sounding” runs through September, in tandem with this year’s Kimball Arts Festival. Show your support by visiting this one-of-a-kind, ear-opening experience! Pro tip: take a tour for the most immersive, personalized art experience. Check them out at kimballartcenter.org and on Instagram @kimballartcenter for information on the opening night cocktail party as well as workshops, classes, artist panels and more.

Read more about the beautiful and creative art installations in Utah:
Utah Dreamer’s Association: Dreamscapes
Communal Grief and Joy in Trying Times: Molly Heller’s Story of Curation