Urban Soundscapes

2001 / Intervention

abSENCE

In the year 2000, Sinus 3 members were living in London. Our mission was not just to study, work or explore the city’s architectural wonders, but to also bring a unique form of art to the streets. 

The performance in three triangles at the newly built Canary Wharf (2000) area, was a manifesto about the chaos in cities and the too-fast-changing world. It was a call to action for people to slow down and appreciate the beauty of simple forms – both if life, architecture but also music and reflected the unpredictability of life in the city.

At the same time, the improvised sound echoed throughout the concrete jungle, creating a sensory chaos and disruption within harmony of the new glass high towers in Canary Wharf, aiming to provoke thought and reflection about the direction of the world and the consequences of rapid development.

A year later, in the Starołęka district of Poznań, the performance was repeated – in the totally different environment – in front of the old XIXth Century granary building of the Brummer Brothers Mill, designed by well-known Prussian architects – Herman Böhmer and Paul Preul. 

Unfortunately, the building was completely unmaintained, partly totally destroyed. In 2006, the remaining fragments of the granary were completely burned in a fire. 

Many monuments that were not destroyed during World War II fell into ruin in the times of communism and the times of free Poland.

The performance with triangles was to remind about the painful scar of disappearing architecture, especially post-Prussian architecture.