Tuning In: Acoustics of Emotion, Sound Archives, and Contemporary Aesthetics

A catalog published in conjunction with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum’s exhibition on the power of the human voice.

What sounds of humanitarian action do we preserve? How does a voice convey emotion? Who speaks and who has the right to be heard? What role does music play in the humanitarian sphere? In 2024 and 2025, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum hosted “Tuning In—Acoustique de l'émotion,” an exhibition featuring sounds from the audio archives of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement alongside major works and newly commissioned pieces of contemporary art.

In our daily lives, we tend to experience humanitarian action through our eyes rather than our ears. Images play a key role in shaping our perception of conflicts, natural disasters, and other emergencies. Yet sounds—and voices in particular—are just as important in helping us interpret and make sense of humanitarian issues past and present. Through this interdisciplinary and experimental exhibition, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum seeks to unearth and highlight hidden gems from a unique collection of sound recordings.

Elisa Rusca is head of collections and exhibitions at the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva. As an independent curator, she has organized more than thirty exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad over the past fifteen years.