“Terminal Piece” is the title of an exhibition in 5 acts at the MUMOK in Vienna and also the title of the central work of this exhibition, an installation by Kate Millett from 1972. According to the catalogue the exhibition “foregrounds the act of viewing itself-asking not only what is seen but from where and on which side of the work one stands.” MUMOK writes: “The exhibition invites visitors to explore embodied attention and discover new ways of seeing: Encountering art is never passive. To look is to participate.” When I read these sentences in the catalogue I feel disabled because I cannot “explore embodied attention” solely by looking. Something is missing throughout the whole catalogue: sound and listening. The exhibition, however, is full of sounds and silences. Visiting the exhibition I felt the urge to add the missing perspective of listening and sound. Therefor I conceived a sound walk through all 5 acts of “Terminal Piece” and also through the other current exhibition in the Museum: “Figure of the Child” by Tolia Astakhishvili. This sound walk materialises in 7 soundscapes: 

1. “Prologue” from the “Church” in Anna Viebrock’s installation on the entry level of the museum.  
2. “Who is watching?” Inside “Terminal Piece” (1972), the first act. 
3. “Machinic”: the third act with special reference to Rebeca Horn’s “Conversation among three opera spectators” (1992) and Verena Paravel’s and Lucien Casting-Taylor’s “Leviathan” (2012). 
4. “Chance and Discipline” features Joe Jones’s “Wind Chimes” (1964) in act four. 
5. “Rupture” jumps back to act three and features “Leviathan”, a sometimes very loud video recorded from a distance from two different point in the exhibition space. 
6. “She wore brown corduroys and a blue sweater in July” is about my experience of Elisabeth Subrin’s video “Swallow” (1995) in act two. Viewing this video and listening to it at some point I heard a drone piece unfold in my head. 
7. “It’s nice on the other side” is the epilogue of the sound walk. It is an immersive soundscape of the huge installation space of “The Figure of the Child” on floor –4, the cellar of the museum. 

The Sound walk “Terminal Piece (Inside the Museum)” is a document of an intense and immersive experience. I spent several days in the museum listening and recording. Encountering art is never passive. To listen is to participate. With these soundscapes I’m foregrounding the act of listening itself-asking not only what is heard but from where and on which side of the work one stands.