Hot Listening Booth by Stelios Manousakis & Stephanie Pan
Working to fight off cold as well as the loneliness of solitary listening, Stelios Manousakis’ and Stephanie Pan’s Hot Listening Booth is a venue for intimate listening under high temperatures: a 3-person dry sauna heated by infrared light. Sound is broadcast over speakers but also resonates through the sauna cabin’s wooden body. The installation offers intense immersive experiences of sound, heat, vibration, and human connection.
Hot Listening Booth was originally created for Modern Body Festival 2016 and its exploration of the social body through the I/WE/THEY theme. In that occasion it hosted the audio-DH project by Francisco López, featuring 250 sound artists and musicians from The Hague and their 195 compositions.
Currently, the venue’ playlist includes 5 works, composed or specially remastered for the sauna and its acoustics. The compositions last between 11-14 minutes, and can be experienced at the composer’s suggested temperature. The list will grow as we commission more works.
Floris van Bergeijk / MURW | Kicks for Sauna
Falling asleep inside a kick drum at a techno party (60°C)
Center no Distractor | Kidsilk Haze
A ritualistic noise cleansing (65ºC)
Pete Harden | Solace and Shimmer
Heatwaves radiating from a pristine, barren landscape suspended in time (70ºC)
Stelios Manousakis | Why is why of no stranger
Traveling through tropical rainforests and subterranean soundscapes (70ºC)
Stephanie Pan | Beast
A lush (imagined?) oasis in the middle of the sweltering desert (75ºC)
| Year: | 2016 |
| Artists: | Stelios Manousakis, Stephanie Pan |
| Type: | Sound and heat installation |
| Description: | 3-person infrared sauna concert venue |
| Dimensions: | 1.5m x 1.2m x 1.8m |
| Duration: | Variable |
| Capacity: | 3 persons |
| Materials/Media: | Infrared heaters, loudspeakers and electronics, Raspberry Pi computer, software, sound, heat |
| Software: | Variable |
| Photo credit: | Erin McKinney |