Sound Art Project: Two Places at Once
Back Art Foundation (Dhaka, Bangladesh), in partnership with State of the Art (London, UK), with the support of the British Council’s Connections Through Culture (CTC) Grant, and in collaboration with the Department of Art History, Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka, organized a day-long Sound Art Project on 13 September 2026 at the Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka.
The project brought together 12 multidisciplinary Bangladeshi artists and 4 UK-based artists, who presented experimental sound works exploring sound as an independent artistic medium. The artists investigated various possibilities of sound through voice, field recordings, audio letters, cityscapes, professional and everyday sounds, nature, childhood memories, home, relationships and personal experiences. Through recording, collecting, transforming and layering sounds, the project explored how sound can carry memory, emotion, identity and a sense of place.
The event created a space for listening, experimentation and exchange between artists from Bangladesh and the UK, encouraging an expanded understanding of sound beyond conventional musical practices.
In this event, Dr. Sheikh Manir Uddin, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Art History, Sanjay Dey Repon, Assistant Professor, and Shubho O Saha, Artistic Director of Back Art Foundation and Dhaka Live Art Biennale, spoke about the artworks, the artists' approaches and the broader significance of sound-based artistic practices. Their reflections and conversations offered critical perspectives on the works and encouraged the participating artists to further consider the relationship between sound, memory, place, body, environment and contemporary artistic practice.