First off, Para/Site’s new curator, Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya, ought to be commended for starting off bold. Sound as art is a fairly new concept, first appearing in the early 20th century, with still no set rules or guidelines as to its presentation. However, Fominaya has an interesting point: it took centuries for the art world to reconcile that paintings should go on bare walls as standard practice.

Sound as an art form is still waiting for its standard practice of presentation. HK Sound Station chooses to use old school CD players placed on top of wooden blocks with two sets of headphones, the low tech presentation saving the gallery space from looking like an electronics shop. But the burning question is: what is sound art? From the 11 pieces here, they are nouveax sounds, the manipulation of sound quality, plays of reverbs and crossfading, and the invention of new linguistics.

Two historically important pieces anchor the exhibition: The Ursonate is one of the founding works of sound art, by Kurt Schwitters of the Dada movement. The other is by one of New York’s masters of conceptualism: Vito Acconci, who gives us a creepy story narration with his trademark masturbation moans.

Hong Kong artists, on the other hand, show that their relationship with sound has mostly to do with street sounds, language play, and ambience. Kingsley Ng puts in the amazingly personal Para/Site at Night, a strikingly intimate recording captured at the desolate gallery; Phoebe Hui attempts to redo Schwitter’s work in Cantonese; and Leung Chi-wo puts in a brilliant reflex test for the ears of bilingual speakers. The thread is loose, but for a media that has yet to fully define itself, does it really matter?

Bourree Lam