An object in a space which cannot be seen and cannot be touched, revealing itself in time through the experience of listening. Frozen sound becomes augmented architecture.

Raumklang creates a location-specific sound architecture, affected and unveiled by multiple visitors simultaneously. The augmented layer fully engages with the potential of sound, acoustics and interaction, deepening relationships with the spaces we and other lifeforms inhabit. The work is the result of a long-term artistic research trajectory which centralises the potential of sound, acoustics and interaction in order to move beyond the visual monopoly of architectural experience. The installation fosters a mutual cognitive extension, understanding the spaces surrounding us towards a culture of sentient auditory spatial awareness, enabling a new pathway to individual and collective experiencing of physical architectures and locations  based on hyper-local sonic augmentation.

The auditory architectural interventions Raumklang realises are informed by the structural qualities and materialisation of the spatial boundaries of the location. These interventions form an immaterial sculptural foundation which allows the installation to emphasise as well as juxtapose the physical characteristics. Hereby the work forms a true hybrid extension of the naturally occurring spatial features and creates emergent phenomenological interrelationships. These connections build on the cultural history and contemporary meaning of the spaces utilising field recording techniques to sonically document different perspectives and timespaces of a site. 

We use specialised recording methodologies to access non-human sound and consider the build environment as living sounding matter based on re-amplification and listening through the substrates. With these site-specific sound architectures we construct immersive nonlinear ecological documents of locations which engage with the full range of infra- to ultrasound activities. 

With Raumklang we have developed custom tracking and wearable technology which invites the visitors to wander freely through the installation. By movement visitors reveal interspecies sound dialogues such as critter noise in fallen trees, echolocations from bats and resonant frequencies from buildings.

By making the unheard audible we aspire to foster mutualism, activating visitors to critically explore the spatial features and dynamics of a place and stimulate to build new relationships with their environment and each other, providing a means to reflect on all the hidden qualities of our daily surroundings.

In addition to the physical installation at STRP, online visitors can experience the sound architecture ‘through the ears’ of another onsite visitor. The Raumklang hybrid environment visually depicts the visitor’s trajectory in STRP’s space and makes it possible to alternate between different paths, to experience multiple perspectives on spatial exploration.

Initiated by Zeno van den Broek & Robin Koek

Raumklang is co-produced by V2_ institute for the unstable media and Creative Coding Utrecht.
This project is supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL, STRP festival, STEIM, AIAIAI, Gerrard Street, DigitAll, Stichting Stokroos, Stichting Niemeijer Fonds, Machinerie Utrecht.