Can the tones of voice of an online linguistic culture be examined and portrayed artistically? In this project, Hörstadt scrutinizes the inflections and the culture of conversation and argumentation manifested in internet forums. This is done primarily pursuant to an acoustic-phenomenological analysis. In concrete terms, what we are investigating here is hate speech posted to the sites of various Austrian journalists — e.g. Armin Wolf (ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company), Hanna Herbst (Vice Magazine), Rainer Nowak (Die Presse newspaper).
Postings containing hate speech are usually formulated in writing. Linguistically, however, they are closely related to an oral—and thus to an acoustic—culture. This is so not only because they can be associated with the so-called Affektsprache (language of the emotions). Things like anonymity, invisibility and spatial distance also have corresponding expressions in acoustic space. What can likewise be expressed is the differentiation between what is said and how it’s said—for instance, in terms of the parameters of the tone of voice such as pronunciation, sound, timbre, volume and intonation.
On the basis of the postings containing hate speech that we have been given access to, Anatol Bogendorfer of Hörstadt and actress/voice-over artist Maria Fliri jointly investigate the phenomenon of language changing its medium from writing to sound. The result takes an audiovisual form.
Credits:
Concept:
Anatol Bogendorfer (AT) / Hörstadt
Producer:
Hörstadt Team (Androsch, Bogendorfer, Knipp, Saftic)
Director:
Anatol Bogendorfer
Cast:
Maria Fliri
Cameraman:
Christian Dietl
Sound Engineer:
Alex Jöchtl
Set Designer:
Tabea Cray
Location:
Quartier
Editor:
Anatol Bogendorfer
Support:
Las Gafas Film, Retro Goldmine Film, Vilo, Quartier
