Ruhepol Centralkino: Silence in the City
Press conference
Donnerstag, 27 November 2008
10.30 a.m., Ruhepol Centralkino, Landstr. 36, 4020 Linz
Linz09 opens an acoustic refuge in a former movie theatre Landstraße 36, 4020 Linz
Run: Saturday, November 29, 2008 to November 21, 2009 (No Music Day)
Opening Hours: Daily Tuesday to Sunday, 12 Noon to 9 PM
At 12 Noon on November 29, the first Saturday of the Christmas shopping season, Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture in cooperation with the SPÖ-Austrian Social Democratic Party’s Upper Austrian regional organization and the Linz Art University’s Architecture Programme will host the opening of Ruhepol Centralkino at Landstraße 36 in the heart of Linz’s premiere shopping district. The lobby and main screening room of this former movie theatre have been given a restrained renovation by Linz Art University architects. What’s to be heard there is—nothing at all. And that’s precisely what Ruhepol Centralkino is designed to provide until the end of November 2009: silence in the midst of the city.
“There’s no bigger threat to our hearing that being permanently stressed by the din of everyday life, noise and acoustic pollution,” is how Peter Androsch, Linz09’s musical director and supervisor of the entire Hörstadt–Acoustic City initiative, explained what’s behind the transformation of a cinema into a place for hearing. “Our campaign ‘Beschallungsfrei–Help Stamp Out Acoustic Pollution’ is fighting the noise we’re subjected to in public places, and working for the maintenance and expansion of zones of peace and quiet. This is why we want to make a public statement and set a good example.”
Being able to install the Ruhepol at such an attractive location and to operate it over a period of 12 months is thanks to the SPÖ Upper Austria’s readiness to dispense with exploiting this property for profit and to co-sponsor this experimental acoustic counterpoint. “This project is the SPÖ Upper Austria’s active contribution in support of the most important artistic and cultural event of the coming year—the 2009 European Capital of Culture. That’s why we’re glad to be making the premises of the Centralkino available for this initiative,” local party Chairman Christian Denkmaier said at the project presentation. A fabulous location right in the center of downtown Linz guarantees that Ruhepol’s campaign against auditory carpet-bombing of public places will reach lots of people. There’s been a protracted discussion about what to do with the property that previously housed Centralkino. Now, this cooperative project provides an ideal opportunity to pay due respects to the cultural tradition of these premises and to carry it on.
In spring 2008, both Denkmaier and Androsch—initially independently of one another—approached Linz Art University Architecture Professor Roland Gnaiger, who immediately made the idea of an acoustic refuge at Landstraße 36 a summer semester project for his architecture students. From various project concepts and models created by these undergrads, there eventually emerged the final design by Richard Steger, Tobias Hagleitner and Gunar Wilhelm. It was implemented during the summer and fall of 2008 with the active support of the SPÖ as commissioning client.
The ‘80s lobby furnishings left over from the movie-house days have been removed. The underlying structures—some original fittings going back to 1909—were brought to light and given a coat of reed-green paint. A lighter-coulored drapery cocoon partitions off a space within a space amidst this raw substance refined with colour. Here, at small tables, guests can drink tea, converse or read.
The actual acoustic refuge is located in the former screening room itself. The exits to the lobby along the side walls were closed off; the loge section of the original layout was reactivated and used as an access level. Both of the round spaces in the rear corners of the building were coated with warm-coloured, brightly-lit soundproofing (convoluted) foam. They thus serve as both attractive transitional zones and buffers between the lobby and the acoustic refuge.
Inside the main hall, wood is the sensorially soothing main design element. A loosely-woven tissue of plywood sheets is draped over the structural walls. A window shaft situated high up the wall lets a bundled ray of daylight stream in. With a height difference of about one meter to the loge level, the floor becomes a landscape of wood featuring steps and inward-sloping multi-level terraces on which groupings of beanbag chairs offer the possibility of sitting, reclining and listening to the sound of the space.
Ruhepol Centralkino is based on an idea by Viennese urban researcher and acoustician Peter Payer, whose concept was, in turn, derived from a historical precursor: “The idea emerged from a scientific research project I’ve been working on for the last few year's that deals with changes in the urban soundscape in Europe since the middle of the 19th century. It turns out that there have been certain cycles—mostly corresponding to waves of technical-economic modernization thrust—in which the discourse on noise has been conducted with particular intensity. Over the course of my research, I came upon the historical forerunner of the modern-day acoustic refuge, the ‘the public halls of silence’ proposed by German physician Robert Sommer.” According to Payer, Sommer “was one of the first to work on setting up a noise-free space that would be accessible to as many segments of the population as possible.”
True to its historical predecessor, Ruhepol Centralkino is open to everyone for a token admission price, daily Tuesday through Sunday, 12 Noon to 9 PM. “Whoever visits Ruhepol,” Peter Androsch said, “can take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and from the Capital of Culture goings-on to enjoy the essential acoustical experience of silence, and to do so in a non-religious setting for once.”
On the other hand, the second acoustic refuge that Linz09 is setting up next spring in conjunction with Hörstadt will have an explicitly religious context: Ruhepol Mariendom will be open May 21-October 26, 2009 in the steeple hall of St. Mary’s Cathedral.
More info about Hörstadt and print-quality photos are available at www.hoerstadt.at.
Preliminary project // Students in the Linz Art University’s Architecture Program: Roland Gnaiger, Lotte Schreiber, Richard Steger
Project organization // Klemens Pilsl
Design and execution // Richard Steger, Tobias Hagleitner, Gunar Wilhelm
Construction supervision // Stiftung L36 – Georg Oberhaidinger
Hörstadt–Acoustic City Concept // Peter Androsch
Ruhepol is a joint production of Hörstadt–Acoustic City and Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture
