How still, slow and silent is the city? In the talkshow Multitasken, David Dooghe was interviewed on his experiences as curator of Soundpiece.
Still, slow and silence is in contradiction with the ‘city’. Cities have always been dynamic places full of movement and encounters resulting in sound. The sound of the city, however, has changed over the decades. Sounds used to be recognisable and traceable. Now new technology and machines create a constant surrounding noise, which can’t really be determined or localised. These sounds alienated us from our environment. Maybe the frequent use of mp3 players and Ipods by persons through the city could partly be explained in a way that, by masking the unknown sound of the city by recognisable sounds, we feel more at ease in the city. Because of this soundcocoon, however, we do not fully experience the city.
The effect Soundpiece has on people is therefore interesting. The size of the installation makes that, walking above Soundpiece, people are at one point totally surrounded by the sound of Soundpiece and the sound of the city fades away in the background. When they recognise the sound, people stop and look around hoping to find the source of the sound. It is a lucky coincidence that the sound of the installation can’t be localized immediately. Therefore because of Soundpiece people experience the Schouwburgplein more fully.
Multitasken is a talkshow with the focus on pop music, organised by Makers Collective Sandersgeluk and hosted by Vincent Cardinaal. Other participants on the talkshow: Lucky Fonz III (singersongwriter), Cilia Erens (soundartist), Ester Naomi Perquin (City Poet Rotterdam), Ronald Ligtenberg (Sencity), Falk Hübner (composer, researcher)