The exhibition
Trailer of the exhibition Silence (1')
Silence offers an intimate visit experience, close to introspection. With headphones on, and completely on your own, you will explore the place following a voice who will guide you on your first steps. Look around every corner of the setting, listen to the testimonies, stories, anecdotes, dialogues, readings, avant-garde musical piece…through out the variety of those recordings you will find the different types of silences.
An exhibition created by the Communication Museum of Bern.
Practical information
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From age 12
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Trilingual exhibition (French, English, German)
Accessibility
- Accessible to visually impaired visitors
- Accessible to visitors with reduced mobility
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The phenomenon of noise
In this first section, we intend to characterize noise. Is noise always disturbing? Could it be familiar? Its perception is clearly subjective, but its measurement concrete! By the way, do you know how many decibels a vacuum cleaner produces? Or what are the effects of noise pollution on our health?
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The phenomenon of silence
Silence is famous! During a conversation, its existence is questioned. Could it be an ‘invention’ of the mind? Two immersions to find this out: daytime silence vs night-time silence on the one hand, a soundproof room like the one in Minneapolis on the other, where only your heartbeat and your breathing are audible…how confusing!
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Ambivalence of silence
In this section, the ambivalence of silence is loud. Meet Christophe Knight, an American hermit who chose to remain silent for 27 years in the middle of a forest. Is the sensorial isolation, whether voluntary or imposed, torture or salvation?
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Deeper into silence
Meet Sara Maitland, the queen of silence. This Scottish woman spent 40 days and 40 nights alone on a deserted island. Listen to her reflect on her experience with isolation and long silence. She shares the emotions and states that took hold of her.
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Silence Stories
Silence throughout history and through stories. From the Big Bang to the isolation tank, via Homer’s Odyssey, the emergence of noise with the industrial era or the assault of bombing during World War II, the absence of and the search for silence throughout time are the stories told to you here.
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Silence Town
When in town… put yourself in situations where usual silence is broken: a hotel room with different noises, a concert full of excited spectators, the reading of a poem…