The Sound of Sirens

SOUND/GALLERY, Copenhagen, 1997

“Wynne’s approach to sound pollution was to go for the jugular, or its equivalent in the ear, in a confrontational work which relied on the paradox that we all in fact ignore alarms despite their supposed function in our lives.” Ed Baxter, Resonance Magazine

“John Wynne’s The Sound of Sirens was exhibited by Copenhagen’s now closed Sound Gallery in 1997. Consisting of 25 speakers set within the ground of the city’s main square, the officially sanctioned Gallery operated through extremely exposed and public circumstances by creating a potential sound field of 900 square metres. Working solely with warning signals and alarms, Wynne’s project became a site for debate between aesthetic value and the rights to public space, forcing sound and its presentation to become a civic and governmental issue. For what became immediately apparent was that positioning sound within the public realm brings to question the occupation of that space. That Wynne’s work was consequently shut down by the City Council due to the fact that people were ‘confused and frightened’ by the work highlights the degree to which sound may radically infringe upon public space, and challenge civic notions of an ethics of display and the rights to occupation. Being positioned within the main square of the city, which is designated a site of gathering for political, cultural and local groups to give free expression to public debate, issues and arguments, The Sound of Sirens remained an essentially distressing work. Claiming it to be art with aesthetic value was not enough to prevent the work’s closure.” Brandon LaBelle, ‘Vandalism and Complaints: Sound’s Other Mask’ in Sound Art, edited by Anna Colin, 2005

Fourth Door Review — interview with John Wynne by Salomé Voegelin

‘Buildings and Sound’, Fourth Door Review

Salomé Voegelin: What was your piece ‘The Sound of Sirens’ about?

John: I designed 100 different warning sounds from scratch: I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with alarms and wanted to use this opportunity to manipulate these public sounds in a public space. The title is a pun on the Simon and Garfunkel song ‘The Sounds of Silence’, and through that a reference to Cage’s ideas on silence and its non-existence.

Salomé Voegelin: And how did the public react?

John: During the testing and ‘choreography’ of my piece, a representative of Copenhagen City Council came to the gallery saying that people were frightened and confused, and as a result they were imposing an official ban. I hadn’t set out to be deliberately confrontational, and in fact rejected another idea for a piece which involved ricocheting gunshots partly on the grounds that it might upset the authorities or the public — I guess you never know when you’re going to hit a nerve. The majority of people on the square had very positive reactions to my piece, whether or not they were aware of the Sound/Gallery’s existence. Several people commented that listening to the sirens whizzing around you and bouncing back and forth across the square was like being under attack, but added that being aware that there was no real danger allowed you to enjoy the experience, which was very much in line with my intention to explore the extent to which it is possible to divorce warning sounds from the anxiety that usually accompanies them. One group of bemused school children came to the conclusion that the sirens were a way of telling which drains were blocked and that I must have been relaying that information via walkie-talkie to someone who could clear them. Perhaps I’m the first sound artist to have been mistaken for a drain inspector: it gives new meaning to the term ‘multimedia’.

‘Buildings and Sound’, Fourth Door Review