Rachel Dickey

soundpedro2020schizophonia participation:
Awakened Silence Audio included in Virtual Breakout During the Outbreak June 6th Livestream
Awakened Silence Video included in Virtual BreakOut During the OutBreak Videos [VBODOBV] I


Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2020:
Awakened Silence

With the ever growing rise of the death toll by mass shooting in the U.S., Awakened Silence is a project that memorializes the lives lost, by putting the audience in place of the first responders. As police, firefighters and paramedics, appear on the scene after horrific events of mass shooting, they report the nightmarish sound of incessant chirping, bleating and incongruously cheerful boom box beats of victims’ cell phones. The project attempts to use conflict as a creative tool in order to find ways to address the ill conditions within society in order to refuse to allow tragedies of gun violence to become commonplace. The involves the filming of hundreds of volunteer’s cell phone turning on after a 24 hours period of silence and captures texts, email alerts, and notifications of all kinds. The resulting recorded videos of each phone turning on with all the visual and audio notifications were compiled into a projected performance of darkness and silence gradually awakened by a crescendo of light and sound.

Acknowledgments: This project was produced by Studio Dickey in collaboration with Daena Vogt-lowell, Noushin Radnia, Sara Shamloo, and Jonathan Warner.


Rachel Dickey is founder of Studio Dickey and an Assistant Professor of the School of Architecture at University of North Carolina Charlotte. Dickey's research and design practice focuses computationally enabled art and design in the public domain. Dickey’s particular are research and design work examines the use of machines and tools in design not only in terms of material manipulation, but also as instruments which affect people and their environments.

Artist Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Social Media: Artist Website