Armistice Soundwave was produced by Coda To Coda (an innovative London-based sound design team) for the Imperial War Museum, London. The last sounds of shells and gunfire and (from the 11.00 a.m. moment) the first sounds of peace, were recreated using the data recorded on the Western Front by the British Army’s equally innovative ‘sound-ranging’ equipment as used at the time.
Here is a more detailed account of the process, one which drew on technologies from then and now to help us with our reiterative/innocent/poignant human longing to relive, or failing that, re-sense, that which belongs to the past.
“As installation composer and designer, our quest to reimagine what the end of the First World War might’ve sounded like began with a single image. The Imperial War Museum provided us with an archival section of film titled End of the War, made on Armistice Day, 1918. It depicts a recording from a ‘sound ranging’ unit used to pinpoint the precise location of enemy guns, based on the vibrations made by their gunfire. Combining this information with a deep dive into the history of WW1 artillery sounds, we reconstructed the transition from the intense cacophony of gunfire to the utter peace following the ceasefire. Inspired by both Laurie Anderson’s ‘Handphone Table’ (1978) and the sound-ranging technology itself, we created a bone-conduction sound bar for the Museum. By placing their elbows on the table of the bar and cupping their ears with their hands, visitors were able to both hear and feel the sound of this seminal moment in human history.” (Coda To Coda)
Remembering Sound (Laurie Anderson)
“In the end, I liked the way listening to the table, head in hands, was the same body posture as the moment of inspiration and depression that initiated the project. I recently redesigned the table, updating the electronics and am happy that it retains its eerie presence: a resonance that seems more remembered or imagined than heard.” (Laurie Anderson)
For more about Anderson’s Sound Table, see Eschaton—Anselm Kiefer Foundation.