Self-Initiated Project - Open Ear Installations
Open Ear Installations are based in various places throughout the city. They make it possible to focus on listening to our environments, rather than just look. Each installation amplifies the sounds around itself but quiets the visual distractions. In this way each visitor can discover an aspect of their city’s character they may have overlooked in the past.
Open Ear Installations - Listening to Anthropophony
Anthropophony is any noise made by people, directly or indirectly. It has many negative connotations for plenty of reasons, but because we live in a primarily visual culture there is not much action taken against problems of noise. A first move towards a changed sonic landscape is recognising the need to listen and appreciate the sounds around us and to find the value in them. Hence, my project encourages active listening and rediscovering the lost beauty of noise.
Open Ear Installations - Maximising Attention
In order to understand this topic, I asked participants of my field research to ‘collect’ moments of noise and quiet and to visually record them. In the group discussions afterward, the most interesting discovery was that most of my participants said they enjoyed the opportunity to focus more on the sounds around them. In this concept creation sketch I was exploring the connection between senses by translating noise into a visual installation. However, because this would reinforce the visual culture, I decided to maximise the attention to sound instead and minimise the attention to visuals.
Open Ear Installations - The Appreciation of Noise
The intended impact of this project is for users to grow an appreciation of noise, to listen more intentionally and to find joy in the mundanity and novelty of soundscapes likewise. I aim to challenge visual culture and inspire growth in auditory culture of everyday noise. As a result, I hope to enable necessary actions being taken to protect sonic landscapes and their audiences – us.
Future Experiences Project - Habitat
Habitat is a new system of a public greenspace which allows city-dwellers in the Global South to escape the hustle and bustle of their environment. Because faith plays a major role in the Global South, Habitat seeks to re-establish traditional connections between faith and nature. People who seek a space for prayer, meditation or rest can find a small oasis within the busyness of the city. The app helps the users to locate them easily and to verify their availability. The service also indicates the environmental qualities of the spaces, such as noise levels.
Habitat - A Small Urban Oasis
Habitat - Faith Groups & Sustainable Development
The role of faith groups is vastly different in the Global South compared to the Global North. Oftentimes, faith groups are the most trusted authorities and people turn to them in times of need. They are strongly embedded in local communities and thus, can have a large impact. Based on these facts, it is inconsiderate to assume sustainable development in the Global South should be separate from local religious institutions.
Habitat - Nature and Faith
Based on the thesis that with appreciation comes care, the intended impact of this project is to reconnect faith and nature by encouraging the appreciation and delight of both. In concept creation I found that designing beautiful and calming spaces for prayer and meditation embedded in nature is a good place to start establishing this relationship in an urban context.