Daisuke Ishida explores space solely by means of sound. The artist creates and shapes architecture, the forms, boundaries and volumes of which are strictly of an acoustic nature.

An omnidirectional loudspeaker buried beneath the ground of Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz creates a hemispherical sound space, the size and tension of which is defined by the loudness and sound patterns emitted. Set within a busy public space with heavy traffic, the artist prompts active listening in the passer-by by introducing synthetic sounds with no evident source, that stand out against the urban acoustic signature. Through this accentuation the listener is made aware again of the daily urban soundscape.

The use of motors and the constant increase in private and public traffic have fundamentally changed the sound character of our environment. These kinds of noises, and even more so the intensity of the sonic burden, have multiplied so that city life these days means being permanently surrounded by traffic noises. Whether we are aware of it or not, we have grown accustomed to this ambience and more or less accept conditions as given. Only when these sounds are suddenly diminished or absent, such as when we travel and find ourselves in a completely different environment, do we notice how pervasive they normally are.

In Daisuke Ishida’s installation Vordergrundgeräusche (Foreground Noise) the ambient sound, as well as sound pressure level, is visualized through lights placed along the arched passageway of the Art University building. The lighting functions as an indicator of the measurements in real time and brings attention to the existence of ambient sound as well as its dynamic changes. In this way the beams of light begin to turn background noise back into foreground noise.

Today we are constantly surrounded by traffic noise in any urban situation. The environmental sounds have changed significantly since the motorization and the perennially increasing private transportation. Variations of noise in terms of kind and amount as well as levels of noise have multiplied. Consciously or not, we have adapted ourselves and accepted these changed circumstances for the most part. Not until a trip to the countryside however, we become aware of the existence of the otherwise constant noise by its absence or reduction. The installation “Another Facade” brings attention to the variations of the noise level and the momentary times of silence that occur. The sounds of the flowing traffic in front of the building and on the highway, varied by the rhythm of traffic lights, are mapped parallel onto the one hundred meter long facade between Mansfelder and Brienner street, by light. The light units are mounted on the roof-edge of the building and are directed downward. They are inactive until the noise level on the street drops below a defined threshold value.