Proklamation

Audio Installation 2025

Artist: Julian Pixel Schmiederer

Part of Ars Electronica Big Concert Night 2025

The sound installation Proklamation uses original recordings from broadcasts of the 1930s, which are condensed into a striking collage. Through horn loudspeakers listeners can hear how media streamlining, propaganda, and fake news paved the way for a dictatorial and fascist regime. The work points out what happens shortly before a totalitarian takeover—with alarming parallels to the present day.

Proklamation combines excerpts from German and English-language radio broadcasts recorded around the Nazi seizure of power. The material follows three narrative strands: radio as an instrument of power, the takeover itself, and the inaction of those not directly affected.

Condensed into a dense soundscape, the fragments form an associative archive. Their meaning is conveyed not only through language but also through their distinctive tone and acoustic harshness—even when individual recordings are difficult to understand.

At the centre of the installation are pressure-chamber horn loudspeakers salvaged from a former industrial site. Mounted on stands, they resemble abstract, almost threatening figures facing the audience. Their cold, blaring sound intensifies the physical experience of the archival material.

To avoid simply reproducing or potentially glorifying violent political rhetoric, references to historical individuals were removed or altered. Detached from specific names and figures, the recordings become broader reflections on the enduring power of language and mass media.