‘Sounds of Religion’ Exhibition To Be on View at UW’s Coe Library

An educational Smithsonian poster exhibition that presents the history of religious sounds will be on display at the University of Wyoming’s Coe Library beginning Wednesday, Nov. 1.

“Sounds of Religion” will be located on the main level of Coe Library across from the Coe Student Innovation Center. It will be on view through Friday, Dec. 15.

The exhibition explores how rituals and gatherings of religious communities create a complex soundtrack of religions in America that teaches us how people behave, how they are different and how they are alike.

“By exposing its viewers and listeners to a variety of diverse beliefs and customs, the ‘Sounds of Religion’ exhibition furthers an appreciation of different faiths and empathy for our fellow human beings,” says Andrea Hastings, library specialist for UW Libraries’ Emmett D. Chisum Special Collections. “With the end of the calendar year, we witness many religious celebrations, and it felt appropriate to present this unique exhibition and highlight different perspectives and sounds from religions from all over the world.”

“Sounds of Religion” is composed of 12 posters that feature numerous religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Catholicism and Druidry. By scanning QR codes, viewers can listen to eight contemporary recordings that serve as audio portraits of the rich and dynamic differences that showcase the unique religious diversity in the U.S.

“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,” according to the Smithsonian website.

“Sounds of Religion” is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in cooperation with the American Religious Sounds Project of Ohio State University and Michigan State University and made possible through the support of the Henry Luce Foundation. The exhibition also has been made possible, in part, by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

For more information about the exhibition, go here.