Sound Of Silence - Part 2

Yesterday, whilst writing about The Flounder art project we were reminded of a series of art installations at Gardemoen Airport in Norway that genuinely serve the needs of travelers. Back in 1998 when Oslo's glittering new airport was built, eleven Soundshowers designed by the Artist Anna Karin Rynander and Engineer Per-Olof Sandberg, were installed in the main terminal and new railway station.

The intention was to create a new kind of facility for visitors in a public place - a refreshing shower of positive and calming sounds. As visitors enter circle shaped floor marks, sounds begin to play. The sounds are clearly audible for the user but virtually suppressed for others due to the shape of the cleverly designed sound lens.

Each Soundshower is equipped with a computer, a digital sound library and a control program that contains random parameters and rules for how the sounds are assembled. Since the sound streams are composed in real time, unique experiences are created for each visit.....

Sounds vary from calming sea waves, bird songs and babbling babies to encouraging words whispered by positive Norwegians such as a Sami Shaman, a polar explorer and an IT guru (although, we're not entirely sure why the last one is positive…)

Having passed through Gardemoen airport on many occasions, we can attest to the fact that the Soundshowers genuinely work, and we're not the only people who still stop to listen to them. Even at the airport's busiest, you'll still see plenty of people stopping and standing under them for a while with curious grins on their faces.

Obviously the only way to properly experience the Soundshowes is to visit Oslo airport but to get an idea of the sounds (and what a Norwegian IT guru whispering in your ear sounds like) visit the Ryander/Sandberg website, click on an image and listen carefully. Our favorite is the one on the platform for the airport express train, which has caught many stressed out business travelers off guard.

For further information there's an interesting article at the BBC Worldservice website.