Sound of Freedom

“If you play heavy metal for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That's when we come in and talk to you.” - Sgt. Mark Hadsell, US Army

Sound of Freedom (2011) is a performance about the physics of sound, the rhetoric of weapon production, acoustic bazookas, the ability of war to create meaning, and children songs used for torture. Sound of Freedom looks at the nature of warfare through music, and investigates music used as weapons, and weapons used as music.

As music major Hilding Runar of the Norwegian Army puts it: “Music can change peoples lives.”

As sergeant Mark Hadsell of the US Army puts it: “If you play heavy metal for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That’s when we come in and talk to you.”

As Charles Darwin puts it: “Musical notes and rhythm were first acquired for the sake of charming the opposite sex.”

As NATO-soldiers in Afghanistan put it: “To be in combat is worth the three months without sex… it is better than fucking!”

Sound of Freedom takes as its starting point the overall importance sound has for human beings, how sound is a fundamental aspect of both human life and nature itself. In the form of music, sound is one of the strongest ways of engaging people emotionally. In the form of moving air, sound(waves) can be turned into weapons. In the global war on terror, the same music can be played both in the battlefield – to build you up – and in the interrogation rooms – to break you down. The ability of music to create ecstasy, to make you “lose yourself”, might also make music the perfect tool to literally make you lose yourself, forever.

(Photos: by Elisabeth Høiberg & Margaux Kolly / Belluard Bollwerk International)