Beschallungsfrei: Help Stamp Out Acoustic Pollution!
.jpg.416210.jpg "Press Conference Beschallungsfrei, 16 October 2008")
Press Conference
Thursday, 16 October 2008, 10.30 a.m
Upper Austrian Press Club in Ursulinenhof, 1st Upper Level
Landstraße 31, 4020 Linz
“Acoustic City” Launches a Campaign against Background Music
“Put a stop to the musical carpet bombing of public places from the meat department all the way to the WC” demands Peter Androsch, the artistic director of music for Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture. “Acoustic City” is a Linz09 project launched by Androsch; its aim is to contribute to achieving an acoustic environment that is consciously designed with human beings in mind. In conjunction with it, Linz09 has joined forces with other organizations for whom the almost incessant background music that pervades the public sphere is likewise an “ear-sore”: The Linz chapter of the ÖGB–Austrian Federation of Labor, the GPA–Private-sector Employees Union (Print, Journalism and Paper), as well as the Catholic churches in Upper Austria represented by Citypastoral, an alliance of Linz inner city churches and the Urbi@Orbi church information center.
One of the activists involved in “Acoustic City” is Linz City Councilman Klaus Luger: “In early September, I submitted to the City Council’s Planning Commission the Linzer Charta, an “Acoustic Bill of Rights” developed in cooperation with “Acoustic City.” I’m hoping for action by the City Council in January 2009.” Chamber of Labor President Johann Kalliauer is likewise supporting this campaign.
The “Acoustic City” project staff, labor leaders and churchmen have jointly formulated a campaign in opposition to people being involuntarily subjected to background music in the public sphere. The first step is raising consciousness of this issue.
According to campaign activists, people are involuntarily subjected to acoustic pollution “when anyone availing themselves of goods or services has no alternative but to partake of such ambient noise, or when the source of it cannot be identified.”
What the organizations that are behind this campaign have in common is the conviction that intentional acoustic bombardment for economic motives—i.e. to prolong shoppers’ stay in a store as a means of increasing revenues—constitutes aural abuse and a violation of a human being’s corporeal sovereignty. This maltreatment affects not only passers-by and consumers; among the primary victims are employees. The GPA’s Felix Hinterwirth stresses: “It’s above all during the Christmas shopping season when the musical repertoire is narrowed down to a few holiday standards that music in commercial spaces turns into a severe form of mental stress for retail employees. I know some shop assistants who simply cannot bear the sound of “Silent Night” any more!”
As a key contributor to the rapid disappearance of areas in which peace and quiet prevails and times when this is so, background music is also a major component of the incessant acoustic pollution that has been proven to make people ill and is an important cause of juvenile hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders. But young people are not the only victims; senior citizens suffer from this too—where background music is being piped in, the ability of many men and women to understand the spoken word drastically decreases.
For all these reasons, “Beschallungsfrei – Help Stamp Out Acoustic Pollution!” is committed to creating and maintaining zones of peace and quiet in the public sphere. With the logo “Beschallungsfrei – No Background Music Zone,” the project staff has created a symbol to designate noise pollution-free spaces, and numerous organizations and companies are already on board with a promise to keep their public spaces free of acoustic bombardment. Among those blazing the way in this initiative are the City of Linz, the Province of Upper Austria and Bank Austria, a major sponsor of Linz09. Heinz Martinek, the bank’s regional director, stated: “Over the coming weeks, all Bank Austria branches throughout this country will be designated ‘noise pollution-free spaces.’”
Others supporters are the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor, Oberbank, Volkskreditbank, Hypo Oberösterreich, Upper Austrian Medical Association, the Upper Austrian branches of the PVA–Pension Insurance Fund and the AUVA–General Casualty Insurance Fund, the Upper Austrian Kinderfreunde child welfare organization, Energie AG, Linz’s Pro Kaufland shopping center, the hospitals and health care facilities operated by the GESPAG organization, as well as the Linz Art University and the Upper Austrian Pedagogical Institute.
The aim is to increase the number of acoustic pollution-free spaces over the course of the campaign. All organizations and firms—regardless of size—are cordially invited to join in. Information on how to do so is available online at www.beschallungsfrei.at.
In cooperation with the local organization of the SPÖ–Austrian Socialist Party and the Linz Art University’s architecture program, Linz09 will be making a contribution to increasing publicly accessible zones of peace and quiet on November 29, 2008 with the opening of Ruhepol (acoustic refuge) Centralkino as a public place of tranquility that will be maintained for the remainder of the year at Landstraße 36 in Linz.
Another public place in which silence is golden is the Turmhalle (steeple hall) of St Mary’s Cathedral, where Ruhepol Mariendom will open its doors in April 2009. Father Maximilian Strasser: “Many people are in search of a peaceful setting and a respite from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Part of our Church’s tradition is to provide such spaces.”
The date of the campaign’s finale has also been set: Beschallungsfrei will culminate in fitting style on November 21, 2009, which has been designated No Music Day.
Campaign Supporters
Beschallungsfrei: Organizations
Print-quality photos and Beschallungsfrei logo at www.beschallungsfrei.at.
