September 26 - December 20, 2024, Monday-Friday
Apse Gallery, Billings Library, Level 3
48 University Place, Burlington
Two exhibits in the Billings Apse Gallery this fall address the question, "What does religion in the United States sound like?" The first exhibit is Sounds of Religion, a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit. The second exhibit explores sounds of religion on the UVM campus and in downtown Burlington.
Choirs singing. Monks chanting. The reading of religious texts. These are religious sounds. But so too are the creaking of church pews and the clanking of pots during the preparation of a communal meal. Sounds of Religion is a poster exhibition that explores how rituals and gatherings of religious communities create a complex soundtrack of religions in America that teaches us how people behave, how they’re different, and how they’re alike. Through QR codes, viewers are invited to listen to eight contemporary recordings that serve as an audio portrait of the rich and dynamic differences that make religious life in the U.S. unique. The exhibition was developed in collaboration with the American Religious Sounds Project, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, and through the generous support of The Henry Luce Foundation. The exhibition was co-curated by Vicki Brennan (UVM), Amy DeRogatis (Michigan State University), Alison Furlong (Ohio State University), Ely Lyonblum (University of Toronto), Lauren Pond (Ohio State), and Isaac Weiner (Ohio State).
During the 2023 Fall Semester, students enrolled in Prof. Vicki Brennan’s course "Sacred Sounds" recorded the sounds of religion at UVM along with other sounds central to the UVM student experience. Their observations on the muted but audible nature of religion on campus highlight the relationships between religion and student life. The students created an exhibit that includes audio, images, texts, and material objects to show how sound structures social interactions and determines how and where students feel comfortable expressing their religious identities. At Champlain College, students enrolled in “Interdisciplinary Perspectives: Religion and the Popular Imagination,” taught by Prof. J. Caroline Toy, created two posters and audio collages that document the relationships between religion, sound, and commerce on Burlington’s Church Street.
Related Event: Sounds of Religion Roundtable. October 28, 2024 from 5-6:30 in the Marsh Room, Billings Library, UVM.
Religion professor Vicki Brennan will moderate a conversation about listening to religion in Vermont and the United States, featuring researchers from the American Religious Sounds Project and UVM students who created the “UVM Sacred Sounds” exhibition.
Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Special Collections at uvmsc@uvm.edu or 802-656-2138.