The project is an artistic exploration of the concept of "hyperreality," where I use headphones and binaural sound to create extended and distorted auditory realities, in which the sound of reality, amplified and intensified, is seamlessly composed together with a virtual soundscape, altered to a level where the listener has difficulty distinguishing between the two.
- How can one compose with extended and distorted realities in a hyperreal universe using headphones and binaural technology?
- How can the construction of distorted auditory realities influence the way we experience our surroundings?
- How can I compose temporally with the medial parameters of a hyperreal universe? What methods, compositional techniques, technical solutions, and forms of presentation are suitable for articulating this universe?
- How can the documentation and reflection format mirror and align with the artistic research project? Can an audiovisual reflection format be a sustainable alternative in artistic research?
Hyperreality is a term drawn from Jean Baudrillard and Umberto Eco, which describes a world where we can no longer distinguish between what is the map (the virtual) and what is the terrain (the real). I wish to further explore the artistic potential of this hyperreal universe in this project—specifically in the construction of new listening situations, how these should be composed temporally, and investigating how this affects the listening experience and perception of the world around us.
In a post-digital and visual world, it is listening that is the primary sense in this hyperreal universe. Rather than using headphones to shut out the surroundings, I want to use them to open up the to the world outside - from private listening to a collective listening experience in "co-presence" with the performers and the other audience members.
The hyperreal space is not meant as an escape from reality, isolated from the world, but rather an attempt to achieve closeness to reality—to use technology to help us turn our gaze and ears outward toward the world, an attempt to reclaim listening by framing it and intensifying it, to get closer to reality with all its noise, beauty, flaws, imperfections, and poetry.
The plan for the project over the next four years is to create "hyperreal spaces": site-specific hybrid works that integrate elements from sound installations, sound walks, concerts, and immersive theater. Each presentation of the artistic works will be followed by a public conversation with the involved performers. In addition, I will organize a final artistic presentation where I curate, revise, and adapt a suitable combination of the selected hyperreal spaces.
Martin A. Hirsti-Kvam (1991-) is a composer who creates conceptually-oriented works, often using electronics, visual elements and sampling in dialogue with live performers, always in an attempt to give new perspectives and reflection to what constitutes music, listening and live performance.
Technology is an important part of his work: as an extension of the live space, blending the virtual and the real in immersive ways using projections, electronics and binaural recordings; and also through incorporating archival material in the form of old recordings played through record players, cassette players and old FM-radios.
From 2025 he is a Ph.D. research fellow in artistic research at the Norwegian Academy of Music, researching how one can compose with extended and distorted realities in a hyperreal universe using headphones and binaural technology
In 2018, he won the Kranichsteiner prize for Composition at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. In 2020 he was chosen to participate in the talent programme for young composers, KUPP, organized by Music Norway and the Norwegian Society of Composers. He has had works performed by ensembles such as Ensemble Adapter, Cikada, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Pinquin and asamisimasa and has had works performed at venues such as Ultima Festival in Oslo, SPOR Festival for Contemporary Music and Sound Art in Aarhus and at the Darmstadt Summer Courses.