The physical effects of sound on humans and animals have been fairly well studied. Whenever discussing matters relating to sound and sonic experience, it is however clear that one always must make a distinction between airborne acoustics or sound waves and ultrasonic noise that travels through matter or a given environment.
Following the human hearing curve, one can note that with sounds above a frequency range of 16 kHz the threshold level of hearing is dramatically increased and sound is neither perceptible nor harmful to the hearing organ. Several animals, such as bats, whales and dolphins, can however „hear“ the register known as ultrasound. Not much research has been conducted on the physical and psychological effects of sound on human bodies that the human ear cannot perceive. Some theories claim that intensified exposure to high-pitched frequencies can affect internal organs, breathing rate, and pulse. There are also suggestions that this is even more apparent in “sensitive” animals. As an example, sonic radar experiments in the Bay of Bengal have recently been proposed as plausibly connected to the increase of beached short-finned pilot whales off the coast of India.
What clearly is problematic in these more speculative accounts is, however, that the actual deterrence and expulsion of ultrasound is disputed. It is technically difficult to transmit this register of sound. A few years ago we made experiments with rats that failed. We also failed when we tried the experiments with pigeons. The economic benefits of a successful procedure could have been massive. We have thus considered other strategies, such as encoding warning cries and transmitting them through ultrasound, but have not yet followed up on these ideas. One can however assume that the rats would be tactically superior to humans in this regard.

One of the main problems of ultrasound is that of dissemination. The physical resistance of air concentration makes it difficult to conduct the sound waves. The second physical hurdle is material sound absorption, which increases with the heightening of frequencies, and in turn makes the transmittable range of airborne ultrasound relatively limited. One approach to overcoming this problem is to modulate ultrasound together with audible, lower-frequency sounds. Simply put, this entails the use of suitable amplifiers that transmit loud and quiet ultrasound embedded within a pulse of audible sound. This way one can create a wave of audible sound, „sitting“ on top of an ultrasonic wave delivering a clearer focus.

On-site Collective Work-Process

The research group practice and working schedule built on suggestions, determinations, and intuitions of the six participants concerning exercises, tasks, activities, and excursions. The group went through phases of dispersion and concentration, gathering information and processing or discarding it. The ambition was to allow fluidity and a combination of information in the approach and articulation of the relationship between content and form.

To Inform, To Offer: Artistic Practices Around 1990 at mumok, 2016; A Proposal to Call at KEX, 2015). The group also visited the Freud museum. Here, the strongest impression that was left on them was by a mirror in which Freud could see the reflection of his own face while sitting at his desk. In the present installment, the mirror remained at the same place, while the desk was removed. The group noticed that standing visitors see the area of their private parts when looking in the mirror.

Perhaps this was the point when the group found the distinction between the curatorial and the exhibition as a phenomenological, physical manifestation was a more relevant one to make: Should the group’s thinking be illustrated through a selection of works? Or does thinking take place through the works themselves? Does one think of the spatial components of exhibitions as being the/a medium? Or can one instead exhibit the space itself? Should the process of collective research be present in the space and, if so, how?

The group considered and discussed references and examples of artistic and architectural practitioners that could be invited to contribute to the questioning of the format Exhibition articulated by the group with an intervention. The questions of ‘art-work’ and ‘authorship’ were still central at this point of the process. In order to refine the positioning and vision(s) of each participant – as individual but also as component of a group – a working session was dedicated to articulating his/her personal approach to what the exhibition could be. The following keywords appeared central for all the participants: humor, specificity of the site, theatricality, and fun. The exhibition in process became a facilitator and the space became a body.

An analysis of the history of KEX and its archive supported the concretization of the following thoughts. The exhibition umbau display ausstellen re-position from 2006 became a reference point. During this show, the movable wall units – that are used as multipurpose exhibition architecture to this day – were built. How have these elements affected the productions of the past 10 years? Could one create an exhibition that might – 10 years after this last intervention – once again operate as a support structure for the institution itself, responding to its present and future needs? And if so, what would be the main problems of the space that such an intervention could address in 2016?

Building on the idea of an exhibition proposal that would operate as a support structure to KEX, the group discussed the possibility of transforming or replacing the mobile wall units in order to adapt them to the new architectural structure of the space. They are 35 cm too high to stand or pass underneath the recently added metallic structure (2013) that consolidates the building. Unfortunately, such a contribution was financially impossible for Six Formats.

Nonetheless, there is a complex physical mechanism called acoustic radiation pressure that also has to be taken into consideration.
The effect of this mechanism is impressive.
We once experienced sound emission of ultrasound modulated with birdsong from an acoustic parabolic antenna. One could focus and hear the bird as if it was very near by. In this way one might be able to create a placebo effect by using the illusion of ‘audio-presence’. Furthermore, the exposure to acoustics emitted by ultrasound devices can provoke both hearing and “‘non-hearing” physical effects (such as thermal effects, subjective symptoms and functional changes).

Subtlety and Visibility: communicating without revealing.

The working group for format Exhibition wanted to interfere as little as possible with KEX’s appearance while playing with a durational presence of the exhibition Schallwirkungen auf Mensch und Tier going beyond its exhibition period – this without imposing changes, especially architectural, to upcoming exhibitions. The (more or less) subtle manifestations are based on the given structure of KEX – especially ‘tools’ of communication KEX uses for exhibitions – but also on intuitions coming out of ‘the doing’ and happenstance…

When entering KEX, the visitor encountered a “clean” exhibition space.

1/ At first sight, one could see:

- The adapted three mobile wall units were placed in front of the untreated mobile wall units – which remained at their dedicated position when not in use in exhibitions. This aimed to emphasize the existence of one of the two interventions of Schallwirkungen auf Mensch und Tier.

- At the entrance of KEX’s exhibition space, a sign ‘Bitte Schuhe ausziehen’ asked visitors to remove their shoes. This sticker was aiming to bring attention to sound and perception, and was also present to invite visitors to feel cozy and non-hierarchal in the space. The working group had for hypothesis that being barefoot and feeling the floor could increase attentiveness to other sensory inputs.

In parallel, issues of acoustics and sound appeared as the most relevant – in some of the participants’ own experiences, as well as that of the institution itself, both noise from the club below and an echo in the room can make it very difficult to follow talks held in the space. To work with the acoustic situation appeared to be an area for a concrete intervention that might benefit KEX and at the same time allow the group to play with and concretise the various interests that had been articulated so far. The focus on sound highlighted questions of visibility and sensory perceptibility. What is it to transform a space without transforming its appearance? What does it mean to present and communicate an invisible materialization of, for, and as an exhibition? Would such a gesture foreground the supporting structures and types of labour that carry any presentation or display of art?

‘Invisible’ was a central notion and ‘hiding’’ was a strategy the group explored to approach the frame and tools of communication used by KEX when displaying exhibitions. The group materialized a series of subtle hints aiming to activate the perception of the interventions realized for and during Schallwirkungen auf Mensch und Tier. As showing the invisible is closely connected to showing the inexistent, the concept of ‘placebo’ became central, especially in the booklet that accompanied the exhibition. It created parallelism between ‘space’ and ‘knowledge’, and overlapped the (in)visibilities of their respective appearances.

Once the group had decided to pursue the option of acoustic improvements at KEX, Peter Böhm was invited. It is important to state that the research-oriented process conducted by the group was not about sound-related knowledge in itself but on ‘how’ sounds – from different sources – could (co)exist with KEX’s activities.

- A cardboard box presenting the A5 booklet – such as is customarily distributed at all shows produced at KEX. As one of the few visible components, the booklet became the space where the working group carefully addressed the questions of visibility, perception, and imagination, or ‘placebo’ that had been central to the group’s thinking about - what was after all still called - an ‘exhibition’ or a ‘show’. Describing in the booklet exactly what had been done would destroy the efforts: one task of the working group was hiding the hidden… to show something that should not be seen… an experience of something that was not there...

Dealing with acoustics from an artistic, conceptual, and non-technical point of view, the working group decided to use the concept of ‘ultrasound’. Such non-audible sound waves were conceptually used to link to the intention of ‘non-visible presentation’ carried by Schallwirkungen auf Mensch und Tier. A combination of five short texts – slightly fictionalised scientific inputs in images and one text, a sound related anecdote, a non-descriptive presentation text, acoustic information, and the history of the walls – aimed to open a space for imagination or to trigger expectations.

Flirting with the borders of the perceivable, the booklet invited visitors to the search for an expected effect. In between fiction and reality, Schallwirkungen auf Mensch und Tier could lead to a placebo effect (as ultrasounds were not used in the exhibition presented at KEX).

Shockwaves – a form of sound pulse that encompasses a higher pitched frequency - are also related to ultrasound. Americans were planning to build weapons based on this technology during the Vietnam War. Fortunately the attempts failed. This research has, however, led to technology like lithotripsy: a noninvasive device that pulverizes stones by focusing shock waves on a patient immersed in a water bath. Sound spreads much better in liquids than solids and therefore the effects are, so to speak, more efficient.
The direct ultrasonic effects of air-borne ultrasound in humans and animals (including vermin such as rodents and insects) are widely disputed. As ultrasound falls within the range of non-ionizing radiation, the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection is currently investigating it.

Background and setup

Six Formats, which runs from 2015-2018, is an art-based research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, PEEK, AR291-G21) and hosted by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Six Formats creates situations of dialogue in, on, and between each of its formats, around a particular theme, and in a particular constellation of a partner institution and a group of participants invited as co-researchers. Each format is a collaborative process of ongoing self-reflection and re-articulation aiming for reciprocal attentiveness to the respective needs of the project and its partners and co-researchers.

One of the conceptual approaches of the art-based research project Six Formats includes inviting a person working at the partner institution as co-researcher: the person is thought of as a ‘filter’, connecting the format to its context.

For the format Exhibition Klaus Schafler, who has been involved in running KEX for many years, facilitated the access of the researchers to the philosophy of KEX, its status in the structure of WUK (Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus), the history of the building, the history of the exhibition space, the archive of exhibitions that took place in the past, and those coming up…

Kunsthalle Exnergasse (KEX) is collectively run. Its curating approach combines an exhibition programme selected by an advisory panel, and projects programmed by the KEX’s team, such as Format Exhibition - Schallwirkungen auf Mensch und Tier.

By Six Formats (FWF, PEEK, AR291-G21)

The design of the exposition Format Exhibition - Schallwirkungen auf Mensch und Tier is conceptualised by Ingrid Cogne and Tobias Pilz. The texts written in black are collective material from the research group that have been edited and reworked by Ingrid Cogne.

The text starting with “Physical effects of sounds on human and animals” is based on a contribution from Prof. Dr. Eike Rosenfeld to the research group for format Exhibition. It was rewritten by Jonatan Habib Engqvist and Corina Oprea for the booklet.

The quotes and statements presented in the explanations are issued from two conversations: one between Peter Böhm and the research group (Cogne, Habib Engqvist, Oprea, Pilz, Rosenfeld, and Schafler) in July 2016, and a second between Böhm, Cogne, Pilz and Dmytro Fedorenko (sound artist invited by Six Formats to contribute with acoustic-related knowledge) in October 2016.

Cogne wonders if the shift she noticed in her perception was due to a progressive process of adaptation to the conditions and characteristics of the space and if her unconscious was stronger than the actual intervention because of all the fictional aspects and parameters used in the communication. For Böhm the feeling is always the strongest thing but others’ statements (what they tell you) are also a source of conditioning.

2/ Measurement and hearing

“I think I heard more than was visible or obvious in the measurement. It is a strange effect that is, I would say, derived from the situation. If you are closer to the storage room, it is less of reverberation than on the other side: you hear a longer earlier reflection pattern from the opposite wall, which gives the feeling that you are in a bigger space on the opposite side, and when you go to the opposite side, it is suddenly:  ‘Oh, I am really in a bigger room now’ because it is more damped on the other side.” PB

In other words, the feeling is accentuated because of a difference, maybe a contrast of perceptions. In addition, Böhm had a more damped feeling at both ends of the space than in the middle layer of the room.

The general reverberation time – combining all the frequencies to which the room is responding – has changed overall: it is now shorter of around one second.

The storage wall

In the storage space, located at the wall with KEX’s office, Böhm placed two components respectively based on the principles of absorption and resonance.

The first component is a porous absorber, which is vertically fixed on the wall of the space. It functions on the principle that sound waves are trying to move the air molecules in the absorber – a 10 cm thick plate of wood wool. This porous material makes them lose orientation and energy. To understand the principle, one could say:

- The thicker the material is, the wider the range of frequencies it can absorb.

- For a lower sound, which has a longer wave, a thicker material is needed.

- And for a high sound, even a paper can absorb it.

At KEX, the lower frequencies are more problematic in this particular room than the higher ones, so a thicker material was used.

The second component is dedicated to the principle of resonance:

- Every material placed in a room vibrates with the air.

- Every material of a specific weight or dimension vibrates within a specific frequency range.

- When dampened, a specific frequency range is absorbed.

Seven horizontal elements were created and installed. Each of them is a metal structure in which a layer of foam material is sandwiched between two gypsum plates. A sound at KEX resonates with deeper waves and sets the gypsum plates in vibration. The layer of foam material functions like a cushion and dampens the vibrating movement. “It is as if you put a pendulum in the air where it vibrates and then you dip it deeper and deeper into honey: it will still vibrate, but some energy is removed.” PB

This component has to be of a specific volume and a specific weight. If the material chosen is too thick, it will not work. The material should soften or slow down the waves, but not mute them entirely. One could say that it is about ‘deadening’ or taking the energy out of the vibrations in the air. In addition, the wooden wall reflects a lot of the higher frequencies. So additional layers of foam were placed on the outside of the gypsum plates in order to stop such reflection. It is actually the distance between the two layers that matters. Furthermore, all the small objects stored behind the wooden wall are also absorbing high frequencies.

The mobile units

Three of the mobile wall units, used as exhibition furniture since 2006, were adapted in order to dampen the vibration of the walls – “as if one would place a hand on a tambourine to stop its sound.” PB

For that, foam material was glued directly onto the inner-side of the mobile units to dampen the vibration of the walls. The air that moves inside a mobile wall unit is absorbed by flat foam and fragmented by pyramid shaped foam.

This intervention influences the whole room; it absorbs sound energy from it. It also impacts on the resonance room inside the mobile wall.

No matter where the treated mobile wall units are positioned in the room, the resonant wall frequencies are diminished. However, because the surface of the walls still reflects the sound very much, their positions are important:

-  Their placement can be used to reduce the sound waves that reach the corners and affect the sound particle velocity.

- They can function as barriers across the length of the room to break the long wave structures.

- Last but not least, one can create a smaller room inside the room which also breaks or reduces the length of the sound waves. Here the treated mobile wall units would best be placed at the short end of the smaller room.