Susan Philipsz: We Shall Be All May 31, 2011

Susan Philipsz's work expands the potential for sound-oriented work's presentation within the gallery context to incorporate performative and site-specific aspects that draw various on history, literature, and popular and folk music. Her installations feature strategically placed audio speakers within a given space that transmit a cappella versions of songs sung by the artist. Philipsz deliberately selects particular pieces of music to reinterpret vocally and then separates the multiple audio tracks so that the "viewer" experiences different voices as they move through a space, creating a situation in which familiar music is heard differently and the human voice is understood in a radically different and physically disorienting manner. 'We Shall Be All' is a sound installation commissioned for the MCA Collection that "explore[s] the spatial properties of sound, utilizing aspects of Chicago's ... complex political history" - particularly the use of slogans and statements associated with collective groups.