An exhibition on sound and listening,
developed in Bengaluru by Thomas Lea Clarke

On view at the Indian Music Experience Museum till 21 November 2026

Cities are often described through their buildings, their growth and their change. Signal Traces: Bengaluru proposes another way in: through the sounds that people hold on to, the technologies and crafts that sustain them, and the quiet networks of exchange through which music and memory are handed on. In attending to these partial and personal accounts, the exhibition invites visitors to consider their own relationship to sound, and to listen to the city as a layered, unfinished conversation.

The exhibition has 3 parts: audio recordings, photographs and an accompanying publication.

Through this exhibition, sound artist and electronic musician Thomas Lea Clarke, who spent 2 months in residence at IME, takes us through the unique sounds and moments that he encountered during his time in the city.

About the Artist-Curator: Thomas Lea Clarke

Thomas Lea Clarke is a Berlin-based sound artist and electronic musician. His work brings together installation, composition, field recordings, interviews, archival material and recorded music, examining how sound shapes and is shaped by our environments, and how it is stored, transmitted, replayed and remembered.

For the past 2 months, Thomas has been the artist-in-residence at the Indian Music Experience Museum as part of the bangaloREsidency programme, organized in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore. Signal Traces: Bengaluru was developed during his time at IME through encounters with musicians, collectors, technicians, instrument builders and residents across Bengaluru.

About the bangaloREsidency programme

The bangaloREsidency programme has been conceived as a long-term collaboration between the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore and various innovative and discerning contemporary art/cultural spaces and partners in Bangalore, with a view to offering artists from Germany a space conducive to creative output and the opportunity to interact with Indian artists/experts. The 2026 edition of the bangaloREsidency took place from September 5 to October 31.