Art fills physical space, it sculpts your senses – but it doesn’t have to be visible to do so. I miss, in lockdown, the way a wave painted by Turner seems to spill out of its frame into my body. But sound is a wave, too, and, as artists such as the brilliant Susan Philipsz reveal, it can be as physically present and solid as a stone monolith. One way to satiate your need for art is to turn up the volume and let music vibrate through the room and into your head. Sound art is just a different way of thinking about sound – becoming aware of it in space. Try it with music that separates into suspended resonating vibrations such as Pink Floyd’s Echoes; instead of listening for a tune or words, feel the mass and weight of the sound. Or listen to Neil Young’s hypnotic Helpless until it’s no longer a piece of music but an eerie dream. Is it art? Does it matter? When you are lost in sound it becomes as material as a great glob of paint dripping in your mind.
