Exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Photography Explores Changing Role of Music

A new exhibition at Columbia College's Museum of Contemporary Photography is exploring the constantly changing role of music, asking visitors to think about how music relates and interacts with everyday life.

Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj is inspired by club cultures and hybrid sounds.

“Some people like to think of Hassan as the Andy Warhol of Morocco," says Asha Iman Veal, associate curator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

“He takes these amazing portraits of all sorts of artists and musicians and friends of his, and these amazing settings he hand styles himself,” Veal said.

Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh, who lives in Germany, created a sound installation entitled, "The Song of the Germans".  There are ten speakers playing Germany’s national anthem, which is sung by ten African singers in their native languages.

Leah Gallant, program curator at Goethe-Institut Chicago, a presenting partner,  says,

“It’s sort of commenting on discussions around race and immigration in Germany, and sort of the ongoing question of who and what is considered German,” Goethe-Institut Chicago program curator Leah Gallant said.

There is also an installation by artist Tony Cokes, which looks at the U.S. military’s use of unbearably loud music as a form of torture. 

“I feel like it connects to a lot of current discussions around cultural ownership and the political implications of music,” Gallant told NBC 5.

Overall, 10 artists from the Columbia College community and around the world are raising questions about the impact music has on ritual, power and play.

“So many of the exhibition pieces are thinking about nationalism, they are thinking about politics and belonging in these really heavy ways, but I think music makes it accessible. And also, really digestible for people," Veal said.

"Shift: Music Meaning Context" is up at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College through Aug. 6.