ABOUT QUIET IS THE NEW LOUD

Bruce Odland and Sam Auinger open your ears to the peacefulness of a small city like Bruges. In comparison to their respective stamping grounds of New York and Berlin, Bruges doesn’t only look beautiful but it sounds it too. Here, you can still hear the sound of footsteps on cobbles, a duck ruffling its feathers and even someone whispering. [O+A] decode the city’s acoustics. They offer a new, sensual approach to designing the city of the future as a creative space. [O+A] have set up several ways to enjoy the city acoustically. Songlines Navigate the city like a bat by listening to the reverberations of buildings. You set off with a floating speaker that is activated at certain locations by a GPS-driven network. The architectural environment is made audible through echolocation. There are three separate ‘songlines’: — Water Songline (1,3 km; 25 minutes) — Park Songline (1,4 km; 25 minutes / 2,7 km; 60 minutes) — Night Songline (1,6 km; 45 minutes) Earmarks [O+A] captured 17 special listening experiences in Bruges. With the walking map as back-up, let your ears be your guide as you traverse the city. You will experience the sounds of horses hooves, burbling water, rustling trees and all the other aspects of the city’s unique soundscape. More info. Brugge tuned [O+A] convert urban sounds into harmonic vibrations. Lie down on the bright red platform on Jan van Eyck Square and let the realtime sounds caused by cars, buses and people physically penetrate you. Disturbing and irritating noises are transformed into a Zen experience. Sounding Brugge [O+A] in collaboration with city carillonneur Frank Deleu A specially written carillon composition activates the historic city centre’s acoustics with a series of simple tones and rhythmic patterns. Wander about discovering the city’s resonance. Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at the time of the regular carillon concerts.