“The original idea of this work was to create a site-specific soundwalk at Grønland in Oslo, exploring the connection between the real and the virtual in real time, the audience, could experience an urban space enveloped in an ultra-sharp sonic environment through a pair of headphones. 

But due to the prohibition of such events,I had to look for alternative ways of presenting the work. 

Rather than being a fusion of the real and the virtual, this new work became be an exploration of the real through the virtual. 

With the help of a binaural microphone as well as video from the space in which the original work was to be experienced, the viewer will get an illusion of virtual reality through your headphones, wherever they are experiencing this work. 

We will become your avatars: you eyes and ears - and we will explore the soundscape of the city for you with our microphones and cameras.

Because of this crisis situation, the soundscape of the city has changed, and with it the material of the original work. While the soundtrack of Teaterplassen normally would be filled with the sounds of people from the surrounding bars and restaurants, it is now a rather quiet place. 

This new work therefore wishes to address the ghostly absence of the urban life we are used to. To contemplate the subdued urban soundscape dominated by birdsong and traffic noise as well as again filling it and musicalising it with sounds recorded walking around the city the last few weeks.

So turn up the volume, and please listen with headphones.” 

- Martin Hirsti-Kvam, Oslo, 15.04.2020