Most people agree that this is the Information Age, but if you close your eyes and listen, it becomes clear that it is also the Age of Noise. We are constantly bombarded with hums, buzzes, whines, traffic, ventilation systems, disc drives, cell phones, sirens, aircraft, muzak, televisions, radios, car alarms, leaf blowers, jack hammers, compressors — biproducts of an overheated visual culture. It's no surprise that many people withdraw from our public hearing space and retreat into ipods or buildings with windows that don't open. 
Our project intends to empower our sense of hearing and deconstruct this sea of noise. In transforming this barrage of sounds into information about the way we live, the piece attempts to restore harmony and balance to our senses.
Anthropologist and poet David Guss invited sound artist, Bruce Odland to create "Harmony in the Age of Noise." Along with sculptor Mark McNamara and media artist Michael Luck Schneider, they will collaborate with over 80 undergraduates and grad students as well as professors and staff at Tufts University. Together they are designing and building a sonic observation post that will allow visitors to navigate through sound maps of the campus and surrounding community. Harmony in the Age of Noise will be a parabolic gazebo where the hub of students and traffic are harmonized through a mix of a real time feed, a collection of stored psychoacoustic maps, and visitors' sounds programmed to play like hourly chimes.
UPDATES | Harmony in the Age of Noise moved
On June 9th 2008, due to a scheduling conflict, the Parabolic Gazebo and Sound Dial were removed from the roof of the Tisch Library, where they had resided for a little over a month, and relocated to the Remis Sculpture Court in the Tufts Aidekman Arts Center. The gazebo was dismantled, the deck was cut down from 12' to 8', and the Sound Dial, amps, and speakers were stored in the Tufts Art Gallery. The reinstallation was performed on the 19th by Bruce Odland, Matt McVey, Sabri Reed, Mary-Ann Greanier, and Sarah Moshontz de la Rocha, with assistance from Tufts Facilities and the Tufts Art Gallery.
A 4'x4' Google Map photo of Sound Map locations and a photo of the Parabolic Gazebo hung on the wall of the sculpture court. Accompanied by the Live Feed featured on the gallery's New Media Wall, the Sound Dial looked and sounded terrific in its new space.
UPDATES | Harmony in the Age of Noise takedown
On Monday, August 11, 2008, Harmony in the Age of Noise was de-installed. This website will remain up as an archive for all those who wish to learn about the project. Bruce Odland would like to thank all those who participated!
However, the project itself is far from over. If you are interested in soundmapping a new campus, send an email to Bruce.