O+A explore the politics of the senses – the offer made to our eyes and ears by the world our culture has built. This searing 40 minute performance is both a critique of urban design and a call to action.
Bruce Odland and Sam Auinger have been observing the urban soundscape and making installations in public spaces for 30 years. With “my eyes. . . my ears. . . ” they have designed a vehicle for communicating their sonic findings on perception, memory, and the failure of the “sonic commons”.
Based on their unique dual binaural recording process, (4ears), this 40 minute performance immerses the audience in an extremely detailed spatial and hyper-real 4-dimensional audio environment. To this they add fragmentary visual clues playing games with the difference between visual and aural perception.
“My eyes. . . my ears. . .” questions the nature of our modern soundscape and the overwhelming impact it has on us. The 4ears technology allows the audience to hear the city with fresh ears – the way that O+A hear it. The performance is followed by a round table discussion with relevant experts in fields of perception, urban studies, psychoacoustics, architecture, economics, medicine, and the environment.
Previous performances:
Ear to the Earth Festival, NYC; Hexagram, Montreal; Ars Electronic Festival, Linz Austria; District Hall, Boston