Democracy of Sound Presents Haunted Art Installation

On Friday, Oct. 30, Halloween eve dawned, and an eerie darkness shrouded campus, penetrated by a single omniscient orange glow emanating from the top floor of the Library. Music of all sorts poured out of the building disrupting the still night, inviting all who dared. Curious Exonians swarmed to the library, finding treats, tricks and thrills at every corner they turned. Democracy of Sound (DoS), a student-run club known around campus for its innovative and experimental events that manipulate sound into new forms and shapes, had taken over the library, the typically silent study space of campus, for their Halloween event, appropriately termed HAUNTFEST.

Through the event, DoS hoped to promote a mass campus collaboration between a diverse array of groups from the Exeter Association of Rock (EAR) to DRAMAT and more in order to provide students an opportunity to de-stress and explore the iconic Academy library in new and exciting ways, and they succeeded in doing so. “DoS members and HAUNTFEST-goers were clearly stoked and having a great time throughout the library,” club adviser and piano instructor Jon Sakata observed.

From the basement to the fourth floor, event-goers could explore the intricate dynamics of sound that DoS sought to provide through all sorts of spaces and musical creations. In the basement, DoS projected “Nosferatu,” a 1922 black-and-white, silent German expressionist horror film featuring vampires, onto layers of tin foil. The scenes of the film shimmered on the aluminum, warping the vampires off the foil to appear holographic.

Senior Jordyn Marlin enjoyed the creativity of the film, calling it “surprisingly good. I thought it was cool of them to incorporate a silent element to an event dedicated to sound.”

To fill the silence of the movie, DRAMAT actors, dressed in scary costumes and trapped in the study rooms beside the “Nosferatu” projection, screamed and banged on the glass doors, seemingly trying to get out and attack the passer-byers. Prep Jaime Romero, one of the many event-goers startled by the performers in the basement, said that “the lighting prevented us from seeing the people who were meant to scare us and when the people jumped at you and screamed, it was really a shock as you wouldn’t know when they would pop out!”

The second floor featured a multi-layered visual art piece, placed in one of the side study rooms. Looking at the piece, students were baffled by layers of different images—themselves, the mirror, the glass, the screens, the glass again, their own reflection, all overlapped upon each other. “It was dizzying to look at. [As] Dr. Sakata pointed out, after a while, you started to see your own reflection as a ghost,” DoS co-head and senior Annie Ning said.

Upstairs, on the rooftop, a rock band, consisting of senior Tommy Song, upper Ahmad Rahman and lowers Lucas Stevens and Oren Stern, jammed outside while event-goers watched from inside. Ning described the effect as “kind of eerie, like watching fish behind an aquarium. It was really incredible—hearing the music throbbing, but separated by a sheet of glass.”

The band was an audience favorite. Prep Jaime Romero said the group played “fantastically” and maintained “really great music throughout the [entire] night.” Prep Emmy Goyette echoed Romero’s comments, describing the rooftop band as one of her favorite parts. Goyette exclaimed that the band was “really neat” and “so well put together.”

Besides the different floor activities, the event also featured a range of interactive instruments. Many event-goers liked playing around with the theremin, a device that produces sounds at different pitches and volumes based on the position of the player’s hands. “I loved being allowed to play the theremin; that’s been a dream of mine for a while,” prep Hanna Pak said.

Through the event, DoS aimed for a full takeover of the library spaces. A computer laptop was transformed into a floating microtonal keyboard. The marble staircase leading to the first floor was designed into a jumpscare and laser-sensor trip-wire keyboard. 300 battery-operated candles lined a labyrinthine pathway through the library. A multitude of instrumentalists were posted in different spaces throughout the building.

DoS members enjoyed playing around with the acoustics of the different spaces in the library and utilizing them in new and unexpected ways to spark audience exploration. They hoped students would see the library in new ways and come to a new appreciation for the intricacies of its structure.

According to many, DoS succeeded in that goal, amazing many with “unorthodox” elements and creative manipulations of the diverse spaces of the library. “DoS juxtaposed all sorts of different elements together to form such an interesting experience. It was eerie and chilling and cool and alluring all at the same time,” upper Caroline Davis said. “They were able to utilize the vast library spaces in a whole new way that was so creative and fresh. I never imagined the library in this way.”

Overall, the night was a great success, bringing together groups and faculty across campus in a joint collaboration that, according to Sakata, “transmogrified” the quiet and scholarly library into a “wildly fun, safe, and memorable” playhouse. HAUNTFEST allowed DoS members and Exonians alike “to explore like kids and to have fun with the things [they] stumble upon. We’re just having a great time,” Ning said.