[dis]placement – Information through Sound

Citygate Shopping, Wagramer Strasse 195, 1210 Vienna, 3 June to 13 June 2016, daily 10:00 to 20:00 (Sunday closed)

Inspired by the annual topic of the Art & Science project work “Information through sound” (Univ.-Prof. Virgil Widrich) and the seminar “sound as source” (Univ.-Lekt. Mag.art. Karl Salzmann), the term sound/noise was employed as a tool for analysis and experimentation by the students of the Art & Science Department and the Industrial Design Department as well as by visiting students from the Academy of Fine Arts. The carrier medium “sound” or “noise” includes in addition to its physical qualities (volume, wavelength, or frequency) — depending on how it is listened to or on the listener — a broad range of other information such as cultural, social and/or political meanings. The aim of the project was not just to use sound as an object of investigation, but rather to use sound as a tool to investigate various fields such as architecture, geology, acoustics, psychology, physics, chemistry, urban development, anthropology, philosophy, queer studies, sociology, or aesthetics.
The term and title “[dis]placement” served the students in relation to various topics as a starting point. On one hand, the works correspond directly to the place, a shopping mall, which is rarely used in the context of art, science and research as an exhibition space or laboratory. On the other hand, the student’s project works used spatial dislocation as a tool to disconnect original as well as artificially produced connotations in order to analyse their context through their objects of investigation.
How does our perception change when sound is extracted from its original source and then implemented within a totally new acoustic surrounding? What is the social and cultural impact generated by such transitions, and how can they be documented artistically and scientifically?
The exhibition space, placed within the Citygate shopping mall, becomes a laboratory and teaching space over the course of four weeks. Practical hands-on sessions, workshops, and theoretical discourse take place to delve deeper into developing the works further for a final presentation in the form of an exhibition. Download folder.