Ready, Set, Go for the Sound and Smell of Music

For art technicians installing shows in Berlin and Hobart, a sound check will be as essential as a spirit level.

Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof has organized Seeing Sound, Hearing Time, the first major European exhibition of work by the late Japanese electronic-music pioneer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto. Also in Berlin, the Bode-Museum will present Sound Bodies, an interactive exhibition exploring the sculptural qualities of historical and modern musical instruments. The Sakamoto show opens in September, while Sound Bodies opens in November.

This weekend, Rirkrit Tiravanija will transform the Deutsche Oper Berlin with a marathon of site-specific performances and interventions by 20 leading artists, including the trained forensic chemist Sissel Toolas. The founder of SMELL RE_searchLab is due to release a score of molecules into the opera house.

David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) can boast another innovative audio happening. It will debut the first art installation by Zia McCabe, a founding member of the American rock band The Dandy Warhols.

McCabe’s installation, See Hear Now, which is due to open at the end of November, draws on her rock music background but she is aiming for a mellow vibe, hoping to give visitors’ “nervous systems a break”. She promises something “more psychedelic than opiate, more retro than modern, more harmony than discord".