We see humanitarian action much more than we listen to it. And yet sound helps us understand humanitarian challenges. This is what the Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum wants to show with its “Tuning in” exhibition, currently on view in Geneva. The Red Cross sound archives can be discovered alongside new artistic projects.
Until August 2025, the sound archives and collections will interact with new artistic productions or important works. Sound, particularly voice, contributes greatly to understanding humanitarian challenges, says the MICR. Listening is at the heart of humanitarian work, explains Pascal Hufschmid, Director of the International Red Cross Museum.
The museum, but also the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), keep numerous vinyls, magnetic tapes and cassettes. These will be shown for the first time, alongside musical instruments, sheet music and concert posters, some dating back more than a century.
Voices, music in detention and humanitarian songs will be in the spotlight. By giving a large role to contemporary art, the exhibition questions the act of listening to humanitarian situations and preserving sound traces.
Three artists brought it to life with a unique touch. A participatory sound work, a device inspired by research in the ICRC archives and a materialization of sound will be shown. To guarantee an experience suitable for all audiences, the exhibition site has been redeveloped, again according to the organizers.
With ATS
