Tune in

How does listening enhance a sense of place, help us orientating in space, and what sounds reinforce or create meaning in the urban surrounding environment?

Tune in is a participatory sonic artwork that is presented at Staldenbach Center in Pfäffikon SZ.
Passers-by and the invited art public can take part in the artwork by donning a combined headphone set that functions as a multi-station receiver available at the site.
The sounds are coming from the everyday human activity collected around Pfäffikon. It’s the mundane sounds and noises from everyday life, which might not always be associated specifically to this place, however, contribute to the consolidation of its sonic identity.
Listeners will discover the different sounds that they are receiving triggered by various locally dispersed transmitters. Fading in or out, depending on the participant’s proximity to the hidden transmitter, the sounds derive from the artist’s recordings of everyday activities around Pfäffikon. Here, they not only serve orientation (and dis-orientation), but also create (and destroy) a sense of place. Listening is explored as total body engagement: Are the movements of the body determined by the sounds one longs to hear? Or do the sounds that are heard determine the path the body takes through the space?
Considering that the sense of hearing is instrumental in navigating and defining the environment, Tune in makes manifest how settings can turn into more familiar ones when combined with a specific set of sounds that are always waiting to be attended to and re-created.