Electrical Walk Tallinn

Electrical Walk Tallinn, 2011

Electromagnetic Sound Walk, Commissioned for the gateways exhibition

The Electrical Walk Tallinn invites the visitor to the gateways exhibition to take a guided walking tour that reveals previously inaudible acoustic phenomena. Wearing a pair of headphones that Christina Kubisch developed—using a built-in induction coil that reacts to electromagnetic fields—and carrying a city map marked with a route and particularly interesting sound sites, the visitor heads off to discover the electromagnetic fields of the city of Tallinn, acoustically. Kubisch has been working since the 1970s with the principle of electromagnetic induction, which she uses as an artistic tool for sound installations and acoustic urban walks. She uses this technology to render electronic currents audible and to create unusual sound spaces. The range of sounds, the timbre, and the volume vary from place to place. Lighting systems, transformers, automated teller machines, security systems, antennas, mobile phones, computers, and many other things deliver a soundscape of extraordinary presence. Many sounds have an amazingly musical quality and offer the wearer of the headphones a completely new approach to world they thought they knew well. With Electrical Walks Kubisch manages to awaken our awareness of a sound world that we could not hear without technical assistance, a world whose pace of change matches that of our increasingly technological environment.