2016 Jonah VeestraetenJonah Veestraeten - The Sound of Memories
As human beings, we live our lives surrounded by music. When a memory is formed in our subconsciousness, then the specific sound of that moment stays with us. Remember when you were driving your car and a song brought you back to a time where everything was better. This correlation between two, seemingly different concepts started a journey towards a design solution. In my research I aimed to explore the dimensions of reality and the subconsciousness, with sound and memory in mind. With psychology as a norm, I tried to establish a visual correlation between sound and the human memory, eventually deducing that our mind works through sound waves and finding a form in this exploration that binds both concepts together as one.

The transference of this research to a design started with a location. The “Park Hotel” in Mechelen, Belgium forms a lost structure in the middle of a dense forest. Based on my research I opted to introduce seven installations that are intertwined with the characteristics of their location.

Every installation is different from the next one, yet follows it in form and meaning. They all frame a certain threshold between reality and the subconsciousness, which visitors have to surpass. With the use of visual and auditory stimuli I try to influence visitors in their way of thought. In one installation for example, I use a glass floor, coated with thermochromic paint, which reacts to heat. By stepping on this black floor, the visitor activates the paint and discovers water underneath his feet. At this moment, his reality becomes distorted. While he observes the waves beneath him, I use sound domes to send out specific sound waves and thus try to influence the waves already present in our minds.

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