Audiohacking
AudioHacking literally means 'breaking in' on the listening environment. This can be done, for example, by making auditory interventions in the environment. Sounds are taken out of context and embedded in a different setting, giving them a new meaning.
For the arts festival AMOK 2021 KAAP aifoon created the audio hacking performance CHOORUS. With a backpack containing a speaker, 20 sound carriers walked a choreography. The composition that reverberated from their backpacks broke into the aural experience of the casual passers-by.
Just as in a film not only the images, but also the sounds guide our experience, uur experience of the environment in which we find ourselves is strongly determined by sounds, but often we are not very aware of that. AudioHacking is a method to manipulate sound environments and listening positions.
Another example of audiohacking was the 'Ras-El-Hanout' project during the Ghent Festival some years ago. aifoon infiltrated sounds from Marrakesh (Morocco) through speakers in the Ghent streets. The composer improvised live with the recorded samples from Morocco and the real-time sounds of the street. The passers-by were not aware of what was going on, but were subliminal injected a sound composition that colored their perception.
Just like a sound massage and sound walks, audio hacking is a method to explore listening during our participatory projects, artistic workshops and masterclasses.
Strange sounds in your familiar shopping street
Young people from youth club Den Eglantier created a sound decor for the Stationsstraat in Sint-Niklaas.
"Few people think about the sound of a shopping street. With our own sounds we tried to give people a different feeling while walking through the street," says Roel Thierens of Den Eglantier.
Our installation 'De Zwerm', which is currently being developed and consists of 20 wireless speakers in a network, will be used for audiohacking in the future. The speakers can be worn in backpacks to infiltrate and manipulate the environment unobtrusively ...