Athens by sound
Architecture is not only what is built. Architecture is constituted of
different kinds of aspects; material and immaterial ones. The atmosphere, the
sounds, the smells, the possibility of interaction between human bodies,..., they
all do constitute characteristics of space, that have been increasingly studied
within architecture research, worldwide. Within this field of thought about the
beyond-the-built (Architecture Beyond Building), we focus on a particular
non-material spatial aspect: the sound.
We create, thus, an interactive sonic
map of Athens, which presents in an unexpected way fragments of the atmosphere
of the city.
How would a non-visual map look like? What would it be like if
you wandered within a forest of headphones, playing sounds of spots of Athens?
What would it be like if you found yourself in a 'map' that would only appear
when you walked in it? How would it be like if the map only appeared if you
invited one more person to be with you?
The Greek pavilion challenges the
abovementioned questions through an atmospheric interactive space, presenting
fragments of sounds and visual sequences of Athens. The visitor re-creates the
space around him, by his own presence and movement. The map appears only where
he walks and/or when he invites one more person to sit next to him. The bodies
of the visitors react with one another and with the space itself, creating a
dynamic, changing field. This walk in the pavilion, takes you 'out there',
through invisible Athens.
The pavilion actually brings forth the
beyond-the-material, the beyond the built, the almost unreachable, elusive
aspects of space, such as the sound, the non-visual senses, the atmosphere. It
challenges, thus, the limits of architecture, the limits of what can be mapped
and re-located and what cannot...
www.athensbysound.gr
