Samson Young’s Sonic Explorations Reveal Unseen Histories of Territories, Conflict, and Separation

Birdsongs burst from behind the crowd, or maybe just ahead of it, in the corner. Its trills bounce and ricochet off the gallery walls. The sounds clearly denote distress. Eventually its source is revealed: high above, a performer dressed in a police uniform plays along to a tape of birdsongs with a bird whistle. The architect of the performance, Samson Young, projects the sound through a long-range acoustic device—a non-lethal sonic weapon designed to scare away birds but more ominously us