Celebrated for his material-oriented practice, Kevin Beasley juxtaposes sound and sculpture in his practice. For his installation “A view of a landscape,” Beasley placed a mid-20th-century cotton gin motor at the center of the work, evoking an era of intense social change in American history. “Sound is just as physical and tactile as any other material,” says the artist. “It shakes your insides. You feel the vibrations.”

Susan Philipsz similarly treats audio as a sculptural object, using historically-resonant sources—like an orchestral work by a composer who was interned in a German concentration camp in the 1940s—to create unexpectedly haunting and lyrical installations. “Sound can really act as a trigger for memory,” says Philipsz, “then can bring you back to a particular place and time.”