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sonic parole
2008 / 2013

Acoustically animated video installation for media facades

First installation at the  O2-World-Arena at Ostbahnhof Berlin
120mx12m (1440 sqm), 585x60 pixel
video-loop: 6 min.
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For the project sonic parole advertisement slogans with a revolutionary touch were collected, slogans which proclaim a better world, a change of thinking and the art of living. Individuality, self-fulfilling, freedom: "Just do it!" (Nike). 40 years after 1968 the revolutionary political slogans and icons are used by the marketing of the global brands to produce a "radical chic". The heads of Che Guevara and Karl Marx are just sales promotion. In 1948 the ad for tampons "be a rebel" by Tampax was in a real emancipatory fashion while now it's an expression of a pseudo rebellious youth. Even anti-globalization slogans like "No Logo" (Naomi Klein) are immediately used for product advertisment: "Be your own brand" (FreeSoul).

For the installation sonic parole these advertisement slogans are shown as isolated messages without the related products at the media facade of the new O2-World in Berlin (actually the biggest in Europe, with 120m x 12 m, but only 585 x 60 pixels). Because of the low number of pixels and the super wide screen the video must be handled in a special way.
The slogan texts are animated acoustically by transforming the type face according to their acoustical rhythm. The messages dissolve in their own sound producing visual ornaments. And the O2 media facade becomes a revolutionary propaganda screen, shooting pseudo-radical slogans into public space.

For every location a site-specific version of the video is made, regarding format and context.

>> List of used advertisement slogans and related products/brands.
Media Facades Festival Berlin
Myth and Potentials of Media Architecture + Urban Screens
18th Oct. - 3.th Nov.2008
Initiated by
Public Art Lab / International Urban Screens Association
In cooperation with
media architecture group

Gwangju Cultural Foundation
South-Corea
22th Aug. - 11th Sep. 2013
Gwangju Cultural Foundation
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