At the end of August 2017 Berlin-based Nik Nowak was part of a delegation of international artists invited to participate in a purported programme of fostering ‘cultural exchange’ with North Korean counterparts at the University of Fine Arts, Pyongyang. Nowak proposed the creation of a temporary vacuole of no-sound, or anti-sound, in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea (DMZ), as an interruption of the propagandistic sonic militarism of each side.

Nowak sought to use their respective confrontational sound system installations to play an identical but phase-inverted sound, with the purpose of letting the sine waves cancel each other out, thus creating an active silence. Continually negotiating with a litany of intractable officials, at both State and university levels, his attempts at every turn were thwarted.

Symphony of Silence, 2018
2-channel video installation
Edition: 3 + 2 A.P.

No Silence for the Great Leader, 2018
HD Video, 25:26 min.
and
Notes Towards A Symphony of Silence, 2018
HD Video, 6:00 min.