Discarded Sound /Odložený zvuk/ – Róbert Rampáček (SK) x Leon van Oldenborgh (NL)
Noise-cancelling headphones have rapidly become the new paradigm of personal audio playback, allowing those that are able and willing to invest to retreat into controlled private soundscapes, free from any ambient noise that surrounds them.
Who truly has access to this technology, and is this individualistic solution to managing the daily noisy environments we encounter the best approach? What do we lose by silencing sounds that are classified as ‘noise’ by this technology?
Discarded Sound is interactive installation that uses the technology of active noise-cancelling in a playful way to reframe the way this technology is routinely used by users. It focusses on the recording of discarded sound via custom altered headphones, meaning the sound that the headphones actively cancel and keep away from the user.
By putting the visitor in a game where the only way to win is to listen and analyse this sound on a detailed level, Leon and Robert connect them through this sound to different perspectives on- and mechanics behind this technology ranging from the individual user to grander approaches of sound in the private and public environments we inhabit.
Leon van Oldenborgh (NL)
Leon creates both physical and digital interactive experiences that disrupt the way people routinely interact with their environments, encouraging them to reflect on how their chosen behavior within the experience relates to their actions outside of it through play. In their work, they examine decision-making and mutual interaction, which is not based on social expectations and culture, but is the result of the influence of factors such as technology, creator’s intention, or mutual creation.
Most recently their work has focused on communicating the power that lies within the position of designing widely adopted technology like web interfaces or location-based games and has been exhibited at places like Ars Electronica, IMPAKT, and V2_ Lab.
Róbert Rampáček (SK)
Róbert is a screenwriter, director, master of sound and dramaturgical concepts at Onomatopoje studio in Košice. He studied at AKU in Banská Bystrica and completed his studies at VŠMU in Bratislava as a documentary filmmaker under Vlado Balc. He finished his studies with the graduation film Jonatán. He is the father of two children and the DOCsk documentary film festival, and the author of the Slovak Documentary Film Almanac and the Instagram project #chodimpešo. Currently, he is helping to start inclusive film clubs for children and teenagers in the Úsmev cinema in Košice. He is a dedicated runner, rides a longboard and is a lover of Knausgård. He prefers a contemplative approach to life and his work.
The project was supported by the Slovak Arts Council from public sources. The Slovak Arts Council is the main partner of the project.
The residency of the artist Leon van Oldenborgh was created within the framework of the European Platform for New Media Art (EMAP), of which Creative Industry Košice is a member.
The project was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.