Is the question of materializing the self the answer to the immaterializing of the digital? How do our body and our perception change in the blue light of digitization? The reflections and reflexion of these questions can be found in the sound installation THE SOUND IS THE MESSAGE (SISTM) by Hendrik Vogel, media artist, scenographer and musician. In an immersive multi-channel rush through the evolution of sound signals – from the ancient flute to the mobile phone – the multitude of communication through sound is made tangible.
Bells, gongs, the sound bowl: sound fragments as parts of an acoustic pulse that for centuries guided our life and gave rhythm. The spiritual roots of sound communication have taken flight in the digital age: as a soundtrack to a society that dissolves and materializes at the same time. Between stress and relaxation, order and chaos, overstimulation and rabbit holes, digital sounds in all their variety envelope us like a second skin. The invisible effects of these mechanisms on us and our nervous system are the research subject of SISTM as a multidimensional environment.
Supported by the UNESCO City of Media Arts Karlsruhe 2021 project support program for media art.