Mobile Device

Sound installation, 48 Stunden Neukölln “Neue Echtheit”, endorphina Hof

A mixture of rhythmic droning and humming electricity fills the air: sounds from a stereo loudspeaker rotating on a six-metre pendulum. The source of the sounds is the full array of electronic devices with which we constantly surround ourselves – smartphones, WiFi routers, mobile phone masts, screens, sockets, electrical appliances in home and industry. Their electromagnetic fields and microwaves, normally inaudible, have been transformed into the range of human hearing.

The rotation of the sound source creates a Doppler effect in the emitted vibrations. Through reflection off building surfaces and objects, a spatially floating sound emerges. What is normally an interfering noise becomes, through this acoustic refinement, a meditative experience. The metal casing of the loudspeaker, with its antennae, suggests a possible live interaction – prompting spontaneous attempts by audience members to respond to the sounds with their mobile phones, an unplanned spectacle that reflects our permanent dependence on these technologies.

“Mobile Device” makes visible what remains invisible in digital everyday life: the focus is not on the message being transmitted, but on the path of transmission itself. At a time when the manipulation and authenticity of information are almost indistinguishable, the work points to the physical reality of communication that goes unquestioned – electromagnetic pollution as the price of constant availability.