When We Grow Old
A speculative auditive environment that places four scenarios for demographic change in Switzerland until the year 2070 on the Freilager-Platz in Basel.
Switzerland will undergo a significant demographic ageing process over the next 50 years. Martin Rumori and Ludwig Zeller, researchers at the Institute Digital Communication Environments at HGK Basel, will discuss future scenarios that deal with demographic change and are anchored as an acoustic simulation on the Freilager-Platz in Basel.
Thanks to medical breakthroughs and technical aids, will people in 2070 be mobile and actively involved in shaping Swiss society at a much older age than today? Will they still be part of the working population? How much human labor will still be needed if the use of artificial intelligence and machines is cheaper, and who will pull the strings in such an economy? How will society develop if „the young“ are too few to revolutionize the traditional with new ideas? How has the climate been dealt with?
Equipped with headphones, a head tracker and a smartphone, the audience listens to the researchers discussing these questions in a dialog at the Freilager-Platz in Basel. Thanks to acoustic simulation techniques the speculative reflections can be experienced in an astonishingly spatial and deceptively real way as an aurally augmented reality.
What I did:
Collaborating on the recording script of the play
Recording and editing dialog
Voice acting of the background dialogues as carrier for the AI-modification
Designing all ambiences, foleys and sound effects in 3rd Order Ambisonics
Mixing and Mastering the play in 3rd Order Ambisonics for head tracked binaural playback
-
April 19 - May 26, 2024
Haus der Elektronisches Künste (HEK), Freilager-Platz 9, 4142 Münchenstein
-
Concept: Martin Rumori and Ludwig Zeller
Sound Design: Rupert Jaud
Scenario Development: Bernd Hopfengärtner and Ludwig Zeller
Consulting: Manuel Buchmann
Software and Hardware: Martin Rumori and Ludwig Zeller
Video Version: Ludwig Zeller
Mayor’s Speaking Role: Marianna Meyer
AI Voice Roles: Rupert Jaud, Martin Rumori and Ludwig Zeller
HEK Team: Patricia Huijnen, Simon Krieger, Isabella Maund and Joel Vergeat
-
”When We Grow Old“ was funded by SNSF Agora and builds on the research results of the SNSF Spark research project “Sonic Imagination“, which was carried out from 2020-2021 under the direction of Ludwig Zeller at the Institute Digital Communication Environments at HGK Basel.
Audio augmented environment
Site-specific impulse response measurements
Third-order Ambisonics with headphone tracking
Unity-based player app for iOS
Open-source tracker firmware
German (with English subtitles in the video version)
Duration: 37'35''
Specifications
