VIRTUAL MIRROR – SOUND/ GIVING SPACE A VOICE


2009| Spatial sound intervention in public space

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Virtual Mirror – Sound is spatial intervention that listens to ambient sounds of a specific interior or exterior space, and then attempts to imitate and emit that sound back into the space it originated from. It uses the architecture as an external ear - a reflective surface which changes the spectral color of sound, depending on where it is coming from. Virtual Mirror - Sound can be realized in public, semi public, open or closed spaces.

The intervention provides the space with virtual ears, which enable the architecture to actively listen to and then "consciously" rearticulate its own ambient sound. It is a process of a space digesting its own sound and then voicing it back to itself as a process of articulating awareness of its (space's) own presence.

The first realization took place in Deichmanske Library Grunerløkka in Oslo. Two performers were listening to the small and quiet ambient sounds of Deichmanske library and were trying to imitate those sounds with their voices. Moving around the library, they focused on the quietest of the unintentional sounds, which usually escape our attention, but are nevertheless present. During the process of the intervention, the performers’ slightly amplified voices mirrored the buzz of neon lights, the sound of turning pages, the sound of typing on the keyboard, doors opening and closing and unidentified hums.