Jonah Martensen

SWITCH ME

we are surrounded by lovely non-human actors. but we don't see them for what they are. maybe listening to them can be a first step toward a new relationality with them. thus I present: SWITCH ME. a project which aims to lend an ear to everyday sounds often deemed unpleasant, stressful or outright noisy.

CONCEPTION

It all started with my beloved BOSCH mixer which was a Christmas gift by my grandparents. Since then it has a evolved into a trusty companion in the adventures of cooking and culinary experiments. Though through all this, its sounds have proved to place an uneasiness on me. I asked myself:

What about it makes me feel this way? Is its sound truly distressing? Or was I raised to view it that way?

Thus began a time of active listening to my mixer.

Turning it on and off, just for the sake of it. Playing with its buttons to feel the sounds come alive. I wanted to share this experience with others.

PRESENTATION

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SUMMAERY

During summaery, I put the sound piece on display in the garden of Bauhausstraße 15. There, it was dangling freely, suspended from a tree branch. Visitors were free to put on the headphones on their own terms, to navigate the sounds of all those non-human actors.

Note: still working on a way to include the sound files as GMU does not support m4a files.