Hasta La Ideas

That there is the Audiocloud, the result of a collaboration between artist Piotr Adamski and design collective mode:lina, founded by Pawel Garus and Jerzy Wozniak. The Audiocloud uses corrugated tubes to naturally amplify the sounds surrounding it, focusing them into a single point for the listener.

Which begs the question–Why? Well, it’s based on the creative team’s concept of “Audioarchitektura,” described below:

Audioarchitektura (Sonicarchitecture) is a utopian vision of a city that cannot be heard. An innovative system of sound emission, which isolates people from the unbearable audiosphere of crowded streets, traffic and all the noise that unnaturally has become an inseparable part of our life. Invisible Sonic-buildings, spread along the sidewalks, in parks and boulevards, emitting sound waves that drown out the city noise. Passer-by walking in their range are surrounded by the sound of hypnotic composition of Steve Reich’s concert, broadcasted live from the concert hall or a melody of raindrops falling on the tin roofs of urban buildings. Today this is a utopian technology, but Sonic Architecture is also a basis for discussion on acoustic ecology, city’s acoustic landscape and its impact on the inhabitants.

I have to confess I don’t have a completely firm grasp on all of the concepts they’re discussing–it’s possible something was lost in the Polish-English translation, or that I’m just thick–but for some reason I’m dying to stick that thing up to my ear and listen.

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