‘Crowd control’ is a public security practice for managing large numbers of people involved together in communal action, such as a rave, a street fair or a demonstration. It is a way of controlling people within space and also infers the idea of public surveillance. In this sense, the history of sound is bound to the history of resistance. The communal experience of sound implies the possibility of communal action.

Sound’s role not only as a physical architecture, but also as a social one, is deeply rooted in club culture and protest. The exhibition Crowd Control implies a mode of experiencing reality beyond one that is primarily visual, presenting a group exhibition made up of sound within a 12th century historical chapel, additionally altered by participating artist Jan Vorisek. The space invites a moment of active contemplation, as many of the (sound)works in the exhibition refer to moments of almost-transcendence, or an oratory act, akin to those experienced in a church or on a dancefloor. Both clubs and churches have their own congregations, and here the gallery space provided the setting for this show.

Simply existing in space together, sharing an experience or receiving one, receiving information, supposes potential. As put by Thaemlitz, Music for music’s sake, like art for art’s sake, is a social impossibility. [. . .] Everything is political. proof that public consensus can speak louder than law.