Fiera del Suono

In the immersive experience Fiera del Suono, you are greeted by large colorful abstract fairground attractions. A fortune teller takes you on a journey through time from a crystal ball and lets you experience how the fair was a hotbed of creativity and innovation for centuries.

Discover the shared history of fairgrounds, art and technology!
For centuries, the fair was the place where many art forms such as live theater and dance were accessible to a wide audience. New technological inventions such as photography, the steam engine, electricity and virtual realities were also presented here for the first time. The fortune teller lets you discover the fair through time with the sounds of performers, circus horses, barrel organs and roller coasters. The latest sound technologies take you on a unique journey of discovery through the past, present and future of art and innovation at the fairgrounds. The audio system consists of location-based headphones and a 3D audio scape of no less than sixty-four speakers and subwoofers. So depending on where you are, you always hear a different part of the story. The project can be experienced in both Dutch and English.

Winner International Sound Awards 2024
Fiera del Suono has won two ISA Better Sound Awards in the categories Sound Art and Soundscapes / Ambient Sound.

New ways to tell stories
The creators of Fiera del Suono focus on developing new ways to bring (heritage) collections and creative stories closer to a wider audience. Audio has become an increasingly prominent medium in this regard in recent years, and new technological inventions offer increasing opportunities to create layered and more ‘immersive’ experiences in the process.
The collections of the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, the Tilburg Regional Archives and private audio collections provided sound material for the project. New fragments were also voiced by actors, including Hetty Heyting, Saskia Temmink, Elisa Beuger and Paul Disbergen.

Makers, museums and research
Fiera del Suono is a project by media art collective DROPSTUFF MEDIA in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, Stadsmuseum Tilburg and student groups from the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Hogeschool Utrecht and Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Tilburg. This project takes place within the framework of two national development programs: ‘Cultuurloket DigitALL’ and ‘Innovatielabs’ of Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie and CLICKNL. In both programs, parties from the cultural and creative sector investigate current issues. An essential element is that projects are continuously developed over a period of two years in a process of design, presentation, evaluation and further development. Student groups from the three participating colleges have collaborated in the development of the storyline and audience research and have always made proposals for design adjustments.

The Creative Journey
Filmmaker Ard van der Veldt recorded the entire design process for two years and processed it into a short documentary video. This focuses in particular on the entire iterative design process.

Tour
The project started in 2023 at the LocHal Tilburg and was subsequently presented in several iterations at BigArt Amsterdam and at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. In March 2024, the project was presented in its entirety at the leading SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, USA. During the Dutch Design Week 2024 in Eindhoven (Oct. 19-27), the final result of Fiera del Suono was presented in the Koelhuis District. New presentations will be announced here.

Immersieve Audio Experience
2023-2024

Concept and Production
DROPSTUFF MEDIA

Consortium
DROPSTUFF MEDIA, The Nederlands Institute for Sound and Vision, City Museum Tilburg, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Hogeschool Utrecht and Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Tilburg

Supported by
Innovatielabs
Cultuurloket DigitALL
Fonds Erfgoed Tilburg

Winner International Sound Awards 2024
Better Sound Award in the categories Sound Art and Soundscapes / Ambient Sound

In collaboration with
Script: Thomas de Bres and Albert Meijer
Direction: Thomas de Bres
Animations: Eva Kröse
Video: Ard van der Veldt
Music arrangements: Yannick Verhoeven and Brian Oomens.
Soundsystem spatial audio: usomo by FRAMED immersive projects.
Photografie: Maarten van Haaff

Voice actors Dutch
Hetty Heyting, Saskia Temmink, Thomas de Bres, Elisa Beuger, Kevin Klein, Nur Dabagh, Rick van den Belt, Cindy Paans, Erik Geurssen and Paul R. Disbergen.

Voice Actors English
Loveday Smith, Susannah Montgomery, Laura Scholte, Benjamin Hull, Sterre Holdstock, Sheeyla Gerard, Rebecca Haselhoff, Robin Macdaniel, Rachel Somers Miles, Chip Bray, Greg Shapiro, Rutger Remkes, Nyah, Ian and Shani

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