tx th nxthng . ivan belousov
project: "illusion of silence"
author: Ivan Belousov
sound performance
technique: sound design, audio engineering, performance
tags: psychoacoustics, acoustic perception, silence as material
event: "not a place" - a site-specific art festival integrating contemporary art into the library space
author: Ivan Belousov
sound performance
technique: sound design, audio engineering, performance
tags: psychoacoustics, acoustic perception, silence as material
event: "not a place" - a site-specific art festival integrating contemporary art into the library space
"Illusion of silence“ is a sound performance designed for the site-specific art festival ”not a place" 2023. The aim of the festival was to explore different possibilities of integrating contemporary art in library spaces.
Silence in the library was chosen as the main medium for the performance, which is based on a scientific study of the perception of silence [1]. The article proves that silence is perceived by the human brain as an independent sound event. The authors show that silence can cause audio illusions similar to those previously recorded only for sounds. This means that silence is not just the absence of sound, but an active cognitive stimulus that can distort the perception of time. Through a series of experiments, the researchers find out that participants experience silence as something with duration, shape, and beginning/end, as if it were a real sound object. This undermines the traditional notion of silence as a passive background and opens the way to rethinking its role in perception, attention, and consciousness.
Based on this concept and experiments from the article, soundscapes were developed using field recordings and sound synthesis. The listeners were invited to reflect on the properties of silence and how it is perceived.
Thus, the project suggests considering the library not only as a text storage space, but also as an environment for fine work with perception. In this context, silence becomes not a rule of behavior, but a material for artistic expression. The “illusion of silence” opens up the possibility to perceive the library as an acoustic space in which knowledge is transmitted not only through words, but also through pauses between them.
1. Goh, R.Z., Phillips, I.B. and Firestone, C. (2023) ‘The perception of silence’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(29), e2301463120. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2301463120
Silence in the library was chosen as the main medium for the performance, which is based on a scientific study of the perception of silence [1]. The article proves that silence is perceived by the human brain as an independent sound event. The authors show that silence can cause audio illusions similar to those previously recorded only for sounds. This means that silence is not just the absence of sound, but an active cognitive stimulus that can distort the perception of time. Through a series of experiments, the researchers find out that participants experience silence as something with duration, shape, and beginning/end, as if it were a real sound object. This undermines the traditional notion of silence as a passive background and opens the way to rethinking its role in perception, attention, and consciousness.
Based on this concept and experiments from the article, soundscapes were developed using field recordings and sound synthesis. The listeners were invited to reflect on the properties of silence and how it is perceived.
Thus, the project suggests considering the library not only as a text storage space, but also as an environment for fine work with perception. In this context, silence becomes not a rule of behavior, but a material for artistic expression. The “illusion of silence” opens up the possibility to perceive the library as an acoustic space in which knowledge is transmitted not only through words, but also through pauses between them.
1. Goh, R.Z., Phillips, I.B. and Firestone, C. (2023) ‘The perception of silence’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(29), e2301463120. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2301463120