Installation

Intention:

The Area of “Zierenberg auf dem Dörnberg” is an ancient place, used for Community, Rituals, Festivities and Gatherings for the past thousands of years. It has seen many changes, yet people still come here for recharging their energy, for the quietness, the space to breathe and to connect with the landscape or to meet-up with others.
In the current times, I feel there is a collective need to find new ways of organising together-ness, community, communication (digitally and physically), to re-connect to the earth and spirit again, to make wishes, to collectively create visions for our future, to dream, to decentralise, to share knowledge, and answer ask questions.
I want to connect the aspects of Wishing, Sharing, Connecting, Dreaming, Listening, Voicing, Transformation and Organising into an interactive installation that empowers visitors to actively engage in amplifying their questions and answers – hopes and visions for the future, as well as listening.

As Covid-19 paused all of the daily routines in Germany from March 2020 on, the usual pace and “normality” had been disrupted. Schools, work, universities, social spaces and institutions that used to dictate our daily rhythms and habits have been discontinued, leaving us to reflect on our priorities, our life, our relationships and our society. “Nothing will be as it was after this.” is a sentence I heared a lot in the media has caused a lot of general fear. However, I felt immense hope through this sentence.

If nothing will be as it was, this also meant there is a chance to reflect on everything we used to accept as “usual” or “normal” and make active choices about how we want to continue our existences on this planet reassess our resources in a new way.

Research:

Non-electrical Megaphones have been an important tool in political and social movements since their invention. They were used in protests and demonstrations, for example in the fight for women’s right to vote in the start of the last century, for community organisations, and are still used when electrical amplification is not allowed by the law, like in the case of Occupy Wall street in .2011
They are a tool of impact and change for those who are often un-heared.

A Voice is connected to Breath, Wind and Spirit.
In Arabic for example, Breath and Spirit still shares the same name “روح;”/“ruh”.
This connection is embedded in health practices and art of many traditions, languages, religions and cultures.
Speaking, singing or chanting has been a technology of embodying and manifesting energy, wishes, questions, prayers and divinations.
In Animism it is believed that the winds listen to us and carry our dreams and wishes into reality and we all know of traditions that use spoken spells to impact other living beings or the environment.
While Hearing is something able-bodied beings do automatically, active listening is a tool of expanding perception and awareness in order to connect, resonate, understand and learn.

Contemporary discussions are mostly linked to the “visibilities” of marginalised / “othered” groups of people in society and/or mainstream media, such as television, social-media and the internet. While visibility brings attention to causes and much needed representation for purposes of identification, it doesn’t solve the violence and human rights violations that affected people’s daily experiences.
In fact, “being seen” can be a very dangerous position to be in, especially when the “gaze” of those observing is still violent and unwelcome.
A non-violent way of engaging can be organized by speaking (“mit-teilen”) and listening.
Both are active actions that involve participants to engage in a equal way that does not involve violent behaviour, other than observing and being seen.

The German word “Sprachrohr” is used as a figure of speech for describing public “organs” of communication like newspapers, television or radio stations.
In a more critical way, it also describes people who repeat and represent opinions of others, without questioning or reflecting on them.
It can also symbolise the act of representing the opinion or wishes or groups in political or social contexts.

“Hörrohr” is the German word for a device called “ear trumpet”.
An old technology used for amplifying sound traveling to the ear, way before electronic hearing
aids were invented.

Both devices were used as external organs to amplify sound. Both devices are tools of engagement and communication.

Set-Up:

In a playful way, visitors can find the “Sprachrohr/Hörrohr” Set-Up’s by listening for the bells that are attached close to the installations, by looking out for the red cords that are used as attachments or by listening to someone using the installations and finding their positions based on that.
There can also be a map printed for general areas of where to search (optional).

Via a printed QR-code in the Festival Flyer or via the QR-code stickers on the “Sprachrohre/ Hörrohre”, visitors can access a online Pad (via cryptpad) in which questions, ideas, dreams, answers, visions, listening experiences etc. can be shared on.
Visitors are free to share on the Pad or use any material already on it.
The written introduction in the Festival Flyers will make the project’s intention clear, so visitors are free to choose if they want to join digitally or not.
The goal is to have the interaction and usage of the interactive installation to be as mindful and as free as possible without loosing the intention I set for the project.

I would like to install several “Sprachrohre/Hörrohre” in various area’s of the Festival (possible spots are marked in the attached jpeg “possible locations”). In accessible and audible, yet visually “hidden” spaces. So that participants can feel free to express/listen without the pressure to “perform” or to be observed.
One set of “Sprachrohr/Hörrohr” consists of a cone made out of transparent plastic (PVC), with bells attached in close proximity to it and installed by hanging by red plastic cords on found organic structures (tree’s, bushes, stones, branches etc.).
The “Sprachrohr/Hörrohr” cones can be moved in any direction and can be handled easily.