As a way to combat his own anxiety of noise and crowds of cities, Jason Sweeney embarked on a worldwide quest for quiet in 2013 in our modern urban jungles. He created the TED Prize winning Stereopublic: Crowdsourcing the Quiet – www.stereopublic.net – a participatory art project that asks people to navigate their own city for quiet spaces using an iPhone app and interactive website, share these spaces using social networks, take audio and visual snapshots, experience audio tours and request original compositions made using the recordings. The project addresses what can easily get lost in our quest for ‘vibrancy’ – spaces which accommodate people who are looking for quiet inspiration and time for reflection, in addition to excitement and action. It has gone on to engage up to 50 cities across the world.
