ReSilence Exhibition: SR&DL Unveils "Echoes" at BASE Milan

We are excited to share that the highly anticipated exhibition titled ReSilence has opened at BASE Milan. Our team at SR&DL is proud to present the parallel research projects behind our interactive art installation, ECHOES, and the film documentary VOICES.

ReSilence at BASE Milan is an exhibition of performative installations that transform listening into a collective experience. In a remote region of FAROUT, within an immersive and interactive space, an deafening silence unfolds: fifteen international artistic residencies presenting fifteen projects that have combined art, technology, and science to envision future cities as sound ecosystems. Artists investigate the role of sound in building more conscious public spaces and communities.

Our exhibition piece included a large table and two screens. The content presented on the tables - organized in thematic stacks - forms an uncurated visual journal. It documents and reveals a constellation of explorations, research, experiments, communications, and iterative steps that have shaped the work in its current state. This evolving archive invites viewers to engage with the process behind the practice, providing insight into the layered development of ideas and forms.

Parallel research presented at the BASE Milan ReSilence exhibition. Based on the interactive installation ECHOES and the film documentary VOICES.

The Concept Behind Echoes

“Echoes” is an immersive environment designed to raise awareness and foster acceptance of neurodivergent spatial experiences, creating meaningful connections between art, technology, and human perception. For autistic individuals, sensory input profoundly shapes how they interact with the world, making physical environments critical to their well-being. The concept of disability is constructed not just at the site of the body but also in multiscalar architectural operations, in the spaces that mediate between us and our desires. Spatial access remains consequential to agency, empowerment, and self-possession.

“Echoes” invites participants to engage their own bodies and senses to empathize with the emotional experiences of others. It is a safe space with responsive light and sound events that support self-regulation; a site of bodily and perceptual affirmation. The work highlights the capacity of built environments and physical space to influence embodied, multi-sensory experiences, and their impact on neurodivergent and autistic individuals, but ultimately on everyone.

Exhibition space during ReSilence opening at BASE Milan

People interacting with exhibition items during ReSilence opening at BASE Milan

ECHOES

Creators

Severino Alfonso & Loukia Tsafoulia, Synesthetic Research and Design Lab

Technology Collaborators

Ilias Kalisperakis & Spyros Stefanidis, Up2metric. Paraskeyi Kritopoulou & Eleftheria Lagiokapa, the Center for Research & Technology, Hellas

Video Montage

Elpida Nikou

Woodwork & Construction Collaborator

Wood Plan, Athens, Greece

Thank you to the Perama Municipality for generously providing the space for the construction and initial preview of the “Echoes” installation.

The Concept Behind VOICES

Complementing the physical experience of the “Echoes” installation, the “Voices” film documentary shares first-hand narratives that reveal how urban soundscapes affect autistic individuals, raising awareness and inspiring more inclusive cities.

The interviews’ transcripts result in a research project that advances knowledge on how ASD/ND individuals experience urban environments and how collaborative efforts between neurodivergent and neurotypical communities alongside professionals in art, design, technology, and healthcare can contribute to the creation of more inclusive, autism-friendly spaces.

The information compiled by the “Echoes” installation visitors’ response and the coding of the “Voices” interviews aims to offer insights for designers, planners, and policymakers, and contribute actionable research on this critical topic.

Video of the exhibition space during ReSilence opening at BASE Milan.

VOICES

Creators

Severino Alfonso & Loukia Tsafoulia, Synesthetic Research and Design Lab

Research & Advocacy Collaborators

Rosemary Frasso, Shannon McLain, Quinn Plunkett, Wendy Ross, Jefferson Center for Autism & Neurodiversity, Julia Scott, Rachel Updegrove

Documentary Montage

Elpida Nikou

“Voices: Listeners in the Noise” is supported with funds from the Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities, Thomas Jefferson University (2024 JeffSmart Seed fellowship). 

Join Us at BASE Milan

The ReSilence exhibition is open to the public, and we warmly invite you to visit BASE Milan to experience Echoes alongside other remarkable works.

For more information about the exhibition and our installation, please visit the official Resilience exhibition page and our dedicated Echoes page.