2007
Sound Figure, 2007
Location: The Menil Collection, Houston, Dimensions: 4 x 4 meters.
Extant: 2008-Present. Collection: The Menil Collection
2007
The work is sited, unmarked, on the walkway
leading to the main entrance to the museum
about 6 meters (20 feet) before its doors.
Available 24 hours per day.
As you enter The Menil Collection through its main entrance, you may become aware of a sound, or more precisely a sound shape: quite literally a configuration of sound in space. Not louder than the noises you were (probably) unaware of before, not sudden or alarming, but distinct—a volume of sound redefining the passageway into the museum. The source of this elusive, yet spatially contained, aural field is Max Neuhaus’ Sound Figure, 2007. Commissioned by The Menil Collection, this work flanks the walkway about twenty feet before the doors to the main entrance.