In this first long term MXL project the “Sound of Silence” meets in a DIY Repair Café with a 80ies Karaoke Bar / CD burning session of the 90ies.

What could possibly be at the frontier of music and audio as a medium of expression at a time when TikTok earworms infiltrate your sleep or where anyone and their AI can DJ a remote dance party from the comfort of their bedroom? The positive aspects of access to tools and platforms to produce and share sound online should of course not be denied but is it possible that this excess of sound as a consumable creative form has reached a tipping point?

Although listening to unlimited audio on the internet is seemingly void of heavy material such as vinyl, CDs or tapes, the hidden ecological costs of streaming are greater than ever before. Even in pre-pandemic times, listening to sound on the internet generated around a hundred and ninety-four million kilograms of greenhouse-gas emissions—some forty million more than the emissions associated with all music formats in 2000.*

How do we expand our approach to designing sound experiences in ways that listen to our current socio-ecological contexts which demand transparency, sustainability and more holistic thinking towards design and consumption?

Rather than adding to the noise, we want to find alternative ways of remixing and experimenting with pre-existing footsteps, artifacts, movements, trends  and histories of sound as a medium.

What are under-explored ways of coming together, collective listening, dancing and sharing in the name of sonic exploration?

Open Stage of Post Music(al) Instrument Design.