www.indexthumb.com/commute

This is a stereo adaptation of the ambisonic audio portion of COMMUTE.

Part experimental documentary, part music video, COMMUTE is an immersive audio-visual installation, focusing a lens on the interlaced magic and horror of contemporary city life. Filmed and recorded in Berlin’s metro system during the 2020-2022 lockdowns, COMMUTE presents a haunted and horrifying public space in which all connections are confused, shut down, or failing. As society becomes increasingly virtual, what happens to the public spaces that are left behind? Who and what are “we” and our shared surroundings when we only experience ourselves as “I”?

Utilizing four video projections and ambisonic sound, COMMUTE follows two Berliners sharing an unknown connection on a journey through the city’s metro system. Disoriented and distressed by their environment, the commuters navigate six ‘public’ spaces that have divided into collections of individual networks: private and privatized shelters from which to observe and be observed.

2D video version to come in 2024.

COMMUTE 2ch.

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