Sonic Futures: Collecting, Curating and Engaging with Sound at the National Science and Media Museum

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Our museums tell stories about who we are and where we've come from. They collect objects that connect us to the past and inspire our futures. Though many museums have helped us to see and feel in new ways, few teach us to hear differently. The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has a new mission to tell the story of sound technologies. From TV sets to radios and gramophones to synthesisers, these objects were meant to be heard. They contain evocative histories of how we used to hear and take us into the sonic atmosphere of the past. Their ingenuity can inspire us to get creative in new ways. They can help us think differently about our digital media lives, too: microphones and speakers are everywhere from our smartphones to our Alexa speakers, but we rarely stop to think about what this means. Museums have not traditionally been places for sound and their visitors do not usually arrive ready to listen. This project will put sound technologies on show in the museum by testing new kinds of audible exhibits and new kinds of sound-making events at the National Science and Media Museum. The project will work with audience groups from the Museum to jointly develop new exhibits for future exhibitions. Three groups will work with creative practitioners to create innovative exhibits on topics as diverse as sound postcards (postcards that contain a record that you could play at home); the pioneering techniques of Delia Derbyshire who composed the original theme tune for the BBC television programme Doctor Who; and echo machines used in pop and rock music. Rather than create these exhibits first and ask people what they think after that, we will bring audience listeners into the beginning of the process. The exhibits made by the groups will feature alongside a new exhibition called 'The Shape of Sound' and go on to inform the development of new permanent galleries at the Museum. Curators will learn what their audiences want from sound technology collections and how they listen in gallery spaces. Audience participants will learn about the history of sound technologies and their place in museums.