This outdoor sound installation offers a contemplative listening experience for visitors as they enjoy panoramic views of downtown San Francisco on the Floor 7 terrace. A single speaker features the U.S. debut of the artwork Songs Sung in the First Person on Themes of Longing, Sympathy and Release (2003) by the Berlin-based, Scottish artist Susan Philipsz. Her own unaccompanied and untrained voice is heard singing acappella versions of songs by Teenage Fanclub, Soft Cell, The Smiths, and Gram Parsons. The artist often uses popular music in her work for its capacity to evoke emotional responses and collective memories. In this piece, Philipsz further explores how sound can heighten both our sense of self and our awareness of place, an experience that is continually reshaped by the surrounding architecture, light, and ambient sounds of the city.
Header image: Susan Philipsz, Songs Sung in the First Person on Themes of Longing, Sympathy and Release, 2003 (installation view, SFMOMA); collection SFMOMA, accessions Committee Fund purchase; © Susan Philipsz; photo: Katherine Du Tiel