Peter Doig’s ‘House of Music’ and the importance of audio as a shared experience

The Sound Service at Peter Doig’s House of Music exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery has been open since early October. While the exhibition itself explores themes of music and collective gathering, it is this live element that fully activates its central premise. Doig’s invited guests become curators of mood, sharing the records that matter to them and transforming the gallery into a shared listening environment.

On one of the exhibition dates, Olukemi Lijadu played a selection passed down from both sets of her grandparents. She wasn’t just selecting tracks; she was activating an archive – shifting music from private memory into public culture.

This heritage was projected into the room by a sound system that defied the invisible nature of modern audio. Created by Laurence Passera and DSP London, it was a towering 7-ft scaffold-like structure – more architectural installation than hi-fi.

It dominated the space with a silent, physical authority, a monument that insisted listening be a collective, grounded act. About twenty of us sat on the floor. In that shared posture of anticipation, the dynamic shifted entirely. The experience became less about passive consumption and more about collective engagement.

Reclaiming physical spaces for audio

We’ve ended up with a stark choice: listen alone or share music only in spaces that can be physically and financially demanding. What’s missing are the simple, communal environments that make shared listening feel natural – and open to everyone. This lo-fi, free experience felt demonstrative of that third way. It reminded me that audio operates on an entirely different frequency when it is shared. The music turned the gallery into a multi-sensory environment where sound became architecture and presence became participation.

And crucially, it proved that shared listening doesn’t need spectacle or scale to deliver impact. It just needs intention – a space designed for people to gather, listen, and feel connected. In that room, the social value of music was not an add-on to the audio; it was the point.

This experience highlights a critical tension in our current music economy. Streaming has delivered unprecedented personal access but at the cost of cultural fragmentation. We listen more than ever, yet increasingly, we listen alone. Platforms compete on algorithmic personalisation, but lasting cultural value is forged in shared feeling,the moment when meaning is found collectively and validated by the presence of others.

The Sound Service demonstrated that value in music isn’t just in the audio itself, but in the context that surrounds it. These tracks exist everywhere online – yet in this room, at this moment, they felt distinct. What mattered wasn’t the rarity of the music, but the shared environment that gave it weight and presence.

This is an important reminder for the wider audio landscape. Solitary listening will always be essential – but it cannot be the only mode. When shared, music does more than entertain; it convenes, communicates, and connects. Those social functions are part of its cultural power, not a secondary bonus.

Accessible listening spaces – whether galleries, community venues or public sites – must be treated as core infrastructure, not a nice to have.