berlin 2003 mario asef / roman fehr
  The idea for this project was to collect background sounds from mobile phone conversations. These sounds represent urban acoustic settings in the context of the mobile phone network. A new cartography of the city (in this case Berlin) emerges through the virtual characteristics of telecommunication technology. During the five days of the Launch Option Berlin project, ambient sounds heard during mobile phone conversations were recorded by an answering machine inside Büro Friedrich. The field-recordings were archived and titled without a specific designation of their place of origin. This material can be accessed on the web at www.opsound.org

Opsound, a project by the New York artist Sal Randolph, creates a temporary gift economy of sounds inspired by Berlin, a network of exchange modeled after the free software and open source software communities. Through an open call, musicians and sound artists were invited to submit their sounds to the Opsound Internet data pool and/or perform live at Büro Friedrich. An Opsound headquarters was set up in the gallery with information, listening stations, and online access to the data pool. Visitors to the listening salon at the gallery or Opsound data pool online were encouraged to contribute, listen to, and take away sound tracks for their personal use or listening pleasure.
   

 

 

.................< interventions - video - audio works - home -