Put ’em in a Box

A city is like a vast container, encompassing the chirps of birds, barks of dogs, human chatters, as well as the noises of traffic and construction sites. Activities happening in nature or facilitated by humans never cease to occur and to generate sounds. These sounds, which permeate our daily lives, come together to form delicate fragments of a place’s past and present. They quietly accumulate beyond the bounds of language and shape our understanding of a city. In order to capture, replicate, represent, and play these audio fragments, various devices for sound production and reproduction have been invented. These devices themselves, too, act as containers which facilitate the reception and circulation of intricate, mundane secrets.