The Red Bulletin November 2019 (UK)

Above: exhibits range from an 8mm film projector to a manual typewriter. Below left: Chun (left) and Derksen
CONSERVE THE SOUND
Blasts from
the past
These once-commonplace sounds have
largely disappeared from our lives. But,
thanks to an online archive, all is not lost
A corded telephone, the handle
to wind down a car window, the
first Nintendo Entertainment
System games console – their
working noises were known to
you, but your children and/or
younger friends have probably
never heard them. It’s almost
as if they’ve been lost in time.
But, for Daniel Chun and Jan
Derksen, the German founders
of audiovisual communication
agency Chunderksen, the silence
has grown too loud, so they have
set up a “museum of sounds
threatened with extinction”.
Conserve the Sound is an
online audio treasury for our
ears, which showcases objects in
danger of disappearing from our
aural memories. “These days,
the visual dominates and sound
seems to play a secondary role,”
explains Derksen. “We wanted to
change that. Normally people
collect paintings, illustrations,
classic designs or sculptures and
curate them in an exhibition or
museum. But collecting sounds
is rare. We were fascinated by
the idea of creating a multimedia
space or a museum of sounds
threatened with extinction.”
Ninety-nine per cent of the
objects and sounds in this
growing interactive collection of
audio memories (free of charge
to everyone) were sourced and
recorded by the duo themselves;
the rest have been contributed.
“You can send us sounds
you’ve recorded yourself,” says
Derksen. “Just attach them to an
email, or go to the site’s upload
section. There, you’ll find the
information you need on how to
get the right picture of the object
and best record its sound.”
Conserve the sounds dearest
to you and they’ll be available to
our collective memory for all
eternity. Or, at least, for as long
as the website exists…
conservethesound.de
CHUNDERKSEN/CONSERVETHESOUND.DE HANS HAMMER
22 THE RED BULLETIN