Shilpa Gupta’s ‘Sun at Night’ is an exhibition containing works relating to free speech, specifically focusing on poets who have been threatened, imprisoned or killed due to their works. In particular, one of her pieces, ‘For, in your Tongue, I cannot fit’ utilises spatialisation of sound. 100 speakers are equally spaced out within a rectangular and slightly curved room. The speakers are hidden inside the casings of Shure 55sh microphones which are suspended from the ceiling at different heights by their cable. Underneath the microphones their are poems and their respective authors written on a4 paper impaled on spikes. A range of different languages and writing systems are present. This is also true for the voices that emanated from the speakers as different languages appear and disappear over the course of the piece. The audience is invited to walk in between the speakers toying with the listener’s perception of sound location. At different points pockets of voices will start a chant or join in unison. At other times a singular voice will be whispering. A great deal of variation between the dynamics of the voices were present.

Often I found myself standing in between the speakers to one side of the rectangle. From one side of the room or spaced out, louder voices speak. In between these louder voices it’s possible to hear the faintest whispers, just about audible if you’re close enough from the speakers nearest to where you’re standing. Playing with the dynamics and spatialisation like this conjured up the image of a well with the poets trapped in the bottom to my mind as a metaphor. Sensations of lost souls silenced unwillingly. I found this to be very moving and evidenced to me how spatialisation of sounds can be used to illicit emotions in the audience.