rgroves – LookingOutwards – 11

I found a sound art project to write about because my submission for Looking Outwards 04 was really about music.

Deep Listening Room is a sound installation by Pauline Oliveros at the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Live feed from the main lobby was broadcast onto three walls in a small gallery. The audio from the footage was heavily manipulated and distorted. In addition, Oliveros sat and played a improvised accordion part, matching the doom-like tone of the processed noise from the crowd; the soundtrack became a mixture of low drones, screeches, and vibrating wails. The installation was a commentary on the ubiquity of surveillance. The evil nature of the sound forces the viewer to confront the voyeurism of filming and watching this type of footage.