A noise that quietens or calms down, a constant stream. A stream that puts us at ease or pacifies us. The feeling of being calmed down appears as a collective phenomenon. People move inside the system, very orderly, following patterns and structures that come from the outside and write themselves into daily life as if naturally. Accompanied by smartphones, flatscreens hanging everywhere, by billboards, magazines and digital interfaces. Filled with news about disasters, wars and crises, and at the same time filled with an endless production of images that promise a brighter, better, more optimized world. A noise that calms by overlaying. A noise that disables through its constant presence.

Like an overtone placed over our perception that softens or blocks clear thinking. This constant media noise is more than just background; it has its own structure and has become so integrated into our lives that we no longer really perceive or question it. A constant stream without pauses, a time without any end of transmission.

Our attention gets fragmented, our perception divided into micro-units, and the speed of the images that stream over us replaces their depth. Our gaze slides over surfaces without ever reaching them. News, fiction and advertising promises appear in a constant interplay, side by side, losing their weight. Catastrophe and comfort exist parallel, without any friction.

Seeing no longer happens consciously or deliberately, it becomes reflex-like.

The constant stream covers breaks, softens irritation, neutralizes intensity and creates a state of latent indifference that lays itself like a thin veil over daily experience. It is no longer the single image that matters, but the frequency, the repetition, the overlay.

The noise: It calms by exhausting.

Hubert Kaufmann, 2019