Image caption: Sound Garden invites visitors to sit and listen to snippets of music spliced together.

By Thina Rajendran

Music has been an eternal companion of mine. Whatever moods I am in, I am sure to have a song to express whatever tumultuous emotions I am feeling. Music is more than just an arrangement of melodies and vocals to some people. It invokes memories and visceral feelings that can never be erased. It has to be immortalized to be truly appreciated for the good it does for us. This desire to immortalize music, has been clearly expressed in Sound Garden.

Sound Garden, is a formation of benches made of cassette tapes encased in a strong transparent plastic coating. This tough coating protects the cassette tapes from destruction and wear from time, especially given the fragile nature of these tapes. Music is to be cherished and protected, and it has a huge impact on our human psyches no matter how intangible it is. Hence, Sound Garden is an ode to music; exhibition curator Neo Kim Seng attempts to give music a tangible quality so that it can be truly appreciated.

Unfortunately, though the cassette tapes were immortalized in the Sound Garden exhibition, it is the undeniable truth that cassette tapes were made obsolete with technology. This begs the question- in the future, even streaming music may become obsolete, and a new form of music listening may emerge prompted by technological developments. It is only inevitable that the vectors for music become obsolete. Even the melodies and lyrics of songs can be forgotten; except for those few songs that hold a special place in one’s heart. Hence, the only immortality that music retains- is the emotions that it invokes in its listeners. The emotions and the expressions that are invoked when we listen to music, will live with us throughout our lives.

No matter what form music takes, we should be assured that it will live in our hearts for the memories and emotions it invokes. As we look towards an uncertain future, let us be certain that music will always be with us!

Sound Garden was presented as a part of the NUS Arts Festival 2021: A Question of Time at NUS UTown Town Plaza from 1-27 March 2021.