The 10th Sound Scene, DC’s annual interactive audio exploration, features live music, interactive audio exhibits, DIY sonic construction projects, audio games, listening lounges and more. All ages are welcome.
“Sound Scene X” unites local audio artists and contributors from across the globe to transform the Hirshhorn into a sonic wonderland highlighting the unique sounds of D.C., centered on the theme of “dissonance.” Visitors will have the rare opportunity to:
Listen to the solar system in real time
Play a veggie keyboard
Build wind chimes from recycled materials
Compose melodies based on body temperature
Construct a wall of silence
Choose their own personal “audio adventure”
New this year, “Sound Scene X” will feature listening for the deaf and hard of hearing to welcome more members of the Washington community. This will include original vibration compositions experienced through cutting-edge bodysuits, tactile chairs that let visitors feel a quartet composition, and American Sign Language interpreters and visual guides.
“Sound Scene X” also features performances by musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra and the Pan Lara steel drum band as well as panel discussions that highlight the diversity of Washington’s audio scene.
Included in the audio festivities is a piece by German sound artist Moritz Fehr entitled
Overhead.
Overhead consists of five audio scenes recorded in the Mojave Desert. Each scene is a multichannel field recording that has been infused with technically-amplified (and otherwise inaudible) sounds of infrastructure present in place. These sounds originate from power lines, barbed wire fences and shortwave radio communication, amongst others. The piece deals with the idea of listening to the landscape vertically, layering sound traveling through the air and the sonic presence of the land itself, recorded on ground level.
Overhead was composed at the Electronic Studio of the Technical University Berlin and has been a part of the public sound installation “Continuous Drift” at Meeting House Square in Dublin since April 2017.
Moritz Fehr (*1981, based in Berlin) works in sound, experimental film and photography. In his projects, he investigates the nature of sound in terms of metaphorical presence and spatial implications.
Organized by DC Listening Lounge, an audio collective of Washington DC-based sound enthusiasts. Members include radio professionals, composers, producers, music-makers, found sound collectors, instrument-constructors, educators, archivists, editors, storytellers, improvisers, coders, riddle-writers and more.
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