Why Chelsea Levanthal chronicles a city’s soundscapes

Chelsea Levanthal, one of the artistes at Goethe Institut’s bangaloREsidency 2024 talks about the piece she is exhibiting in Bengaluru

The bangaloREsidency that is currently underway at Goethe Institut promotes cross-cultural collaboration and this year’s edition has 10 artists from Germany exploring different facets of Bengaluru as a city to create works of art that will evoke thought.

As part of this program, the artists who work in different disciplines, are engaging with various organisations in Bengaluru to create works that highlight the city’s identity.

Originally from the United States, Chelsea Levanthal is a sound installation artiste now based in Berlin, Germany. “For the course of this residency, we are all a part of a partner institution which allows us to simultaneously be in this group of 10 artistes, and at the same time, have our own specific line of work. It has been an interesting and unique experience,” says Chelsea whose partner institution is the Maraa Media and Arts Collective.

Chelsea says her project, titled The Hands, Amplified — The Voices, Responding, involves the sounds produced by physical labour in Bengaluru. “For the most part, we’ve concentrated our work in one part of Koramangala, looking at different occupations and that entails the use of tools and machines, as well as physical exertion.”

“The recordings that I’m working with are of people carrying out tasks related to metal work. There’s a blacksmith, and the sounds one hears at a dhobi ghat where clothes are being washed and at a sewing workshop.”

If you are wondering how does one showcase sounds as part of an art exhibit, Chelsea says, “The project may take on different forms in the future, but I’ll be presenting a sound installation using multiple speakers at the Cubbon Park Metro Station at Art In Transit, a blocked off subway exit. The sounds will be played in a long tunnel, essentially allowing the visitors to step into these various soundscapes.”

“In addition to that, I have commissioned four young artistes from the Koramangala slum cluster, who grew up there to respond with prose and poetry to these recordings. They will be looking into their own memories and associations, concerns, or even pride related to these sounds,” she adds.