Created for the exhibition, Encounters with the (Im)material, curated by Alison Kearney for Wits Art Museum in 2023, this multi-media work responded to the challenge of how to play musical instruments once they are part of a museum collection and can therefore no longer be touched. The idea developed from Harris (an electronic music composer) and Kearney’s (an artist and curator) collaboration exploring the materiality of sound for the exhibition. To create the work, a number of speakers were placed under free-standing Tsonga Pedestal Drums that were mounted on custom built plinths. The plinths had holes in them aligned with the holes in the base of the drum, so that air emanating from the speakers could excite the drum membrane, thereby creating sound. The sound from the drums was recorded and channeled via an electronic music software program, to play from the installation of second hand car speakers arranged in a kind of “sound- garden” on the wall. This created a sound art piece that played through the museum. Two additional elements that enabled us to incorporate the audience in the creation of the sound piece. The first was the inclusion of motion sensors that would set off different drum sounds when audience members moved close to the central drum in the installation. The second was a microphone linked to the computer program that would record whatever was said into the mic, and then play the sounds back through the drums. These sounds were included in the score, so that the overall sound was varied and reflected the audiences’ interaction each day. The program was reset each morning. The work is an exploration of ways to un-silence the instruments in the museum, as well as make tangible the ways that the audiences’ presence influences the space and the artworks in the museum.