Image: Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde
Museet for Samtidskunst will present ‘Lyden af’, an international group exhibition examining the poetic, political and sensory possibilities of sound in contemporary art. Created in collaboration with Moderna Museet Malmö, the exhibition will run from 26 September to 8 November 2026 across three locations in Roskilde: Gasværket, Sankt Ibs Church Ruin and Vaskeriet at Sankt Hans.
The exhibition brings together works by international and Danish artists including Hajra Waheed, Hanne Lippard, Clara Mosconi, Julian Abraham ’Togar’, Emeka Ogboh, Cally Spooner, Francesco Fonassis, Arendse Krabbe and Annika Kahrs. According to the museum, the presentation moves through voices, rhythms, language and vibration, linking intimate and collective experience and considering the relationships between body and space, listening and action. Several new works have been produced for the exhibition.
The dispersed format places the exhibition in a range of architectural and social settings. Gasværket, at Vindeboder 1, will host the opening and a substantial part of the exhibition programme. Works and events will also extend to the Sankt Ibs Church Ruin and Vaskeriet, located at Karoline Ebbesens Plads in the Sankt Hans area. The museum’s Saturday tours will focus on Gasværket, while visitors can experience the other locations independently or during selected special tours.
The opening on 26 September will take place from 2pm to 8pm and will include performances, listening sessions and tours. Hanne Lippard will perform for the first time in ‘Vox Humana’, a site-specific work created for Sankt Ibs Church Ruin. Julian Abraham ’Togar’ will present a performance in ‘KETOK STUDIO’ with local musicians joining the artist for an improvisation. The opening will conclude with an afterparty at Gasværket featuring a DJ set by Emeka Ogboh.
Waheed’s work will be a focus of several events. Her multichannel sound installation ‘HUM’ (2020) is composed of humming and other vocal sounds produced with closed lips. The museum describes the work as drawing on the voices and musical practices of singers and songwriters who have experienced imprisonment, censorship and exile. A special tour devoted to ‘HUM’ is scheduled for 17 October, while on 27 September Waheed will join writer and literary critic Athena Farrokhzad for a conversation on hope, resistance and community. The discussion, moderated by journalist and writer Jakob Sheikh, will be held in English at Vaskeriet from 3.30pm to 4.45pm.
The programme also includes family activities during the Danish autumn holiday from 15 to 18 October, a late-evening event at Gasværket on 31 October, and a listening session and conversation with Clara Mosconi on 4 November. Mosconi’s immersive sound and video installation ‘Between Two Tongues’ (2026) addresses sounds and meanings beyond written language through voices, pauses and misunderstandings. Free Saturday tours are scheduled for 3 October and 7 November, and the exhibition closes on 8 November 2026.
