2025 – ongoing
wearable sonic sculpture/headwear, public sound intervention
various locally found materials
Stanza – Sonic Headwear is a series of public space interventions using sonic headwear inspired by local culture and made from found materials. The project explores how we can “read” and articulate public space through sound. Aeolian flutes, mounted on the headwear, transform invisible moving air into audible tones, revealing how this unique life-sustaining yet unseen air—is shaped by both nature and human activity.
The title Stanza comes from the Latin stāre, meaning “to stand” or “stopping place.” We are also drawn to its Italian meaning, stanza as a “room.” Just as each stanza in a poem becomes a lyrical dwelling place for an idea, our project opens up physical and shared public spaces to perception. We stand „still“, to observe how life keeps evolving and how human activity shapes space through visual, temporal, spatial, tactile, and acoustic dimensions—many of which become perceptible through the wind-driven sounds of our headwear.
At the same time, the project investigates the symbolism of headwear across cultures. Beyond its functional purpose, headwear often signifies rank, profession, social status, or national belonging. It also embodies achievement, enlightenment, and personal empowerment. Each sonic headwear we create embeds elements of local social artefacts, drawing on both historical traditions and contemporary practices.
Stanza – Sonic Headwear #3 (Hanoi) – PM 2.5 Golden Dust
Recently Hanoi’s air pollution has ranked among the worst in the world. At its core is PM2.5 – the ultra-fine particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and affect the heart. PM2.5 Golden Dust draws attention to the air itself: the moving air that activates the sonic headwear, the living air everyone breathes every second.
This sonic headwear is made from traditional chicken-feather dusters, Vietnam’s cheap and most common motorbike helmet, miniature figures, and Vietnamese kite flutes. As wind is funneled and accelerated between high-rise buildings at one of Hanoi’s busiest intersections, it plays the flutes, turning pollution into sound. Gold, long cherished in Vietnam as a symbol of wealth and prosperity, reflects the nation’s pursuit of wealth after decades of war—yet this progress comes shrouded in the golden dust of PM2.5. This work functions as a public sound intervention with a wearable sculpture which is inspired by Hòn Non Bộ, the Vietnamese art of miniature landscapes. Within this small world, figures young and old wear face masks to protect themselves from the air they inhabit.
Stanza – Sonic Headwear # 2 (Tokyo)
This intervention took place in Tokyo, at Kita-Senju station, a bustling intersection where there are always urban wind corridors shaped by high-rise buildings surrounding this station. This sonic headwear was made during our artist residency in Paradise AIR, Matsudo, 2025. It consists of a modern Japanese disaster helmet, a familiar household item! that reflects how natural forces such as earthquakes and tsunamis shape daily life, culture, philosophy and aesthetics. Attached to the aeolian flutes are chains of brightly coloured corn cushions, referencing the vibrant pop culture that characterises Japan’s megacities, notably Tokyo and Osaka.
Stanza – Sonic Headwear #1 (Poschiavo)
It took place in Poschiavo, Switzerland, during our residency in June 2025. The headwear was made from found objects—a winnowing tray and a bread basket—hinting at the valley’s long-standing farming traditions. The sound was produced by aeolian flutes, revealing how moving air is shaped both by nature and by human activity.
*** Next Stanza – Sonic Headwear pieces will be developed in the framework of the Outdoor Art Research Lab Residency in Split, Croatia (2026) and in Hanoi to be exhibited at Manzi Art Space (2026)
Siedl/Cao 