Courtesy of the Netherlands Embassy
A gated oasis away from the bustling city, the Netherlands Embassy is located in a fairly secluded area of Forest Hills in upper Northwest. Through this weekend, it takes seclusion a few steps further with a project from Dutch artist Simon Heijdens. “Silent Room” is simply that: a 40-foot long horizontal box acoustically engineered to cancel the noises of the outside world and lighted to diminish your sense of color.
This isn’t art that tells you what to feel; on the contrary, it invites you to put away your electronic devices and just experience silence—which, if you give the room enough time, leaves you with nothing else but to face yourself.
The piece was commissioned for SXSW in Austin last year, where the repurposed industrial storage container drew lines of visitors searching for a moment away from the hectic festival activity.
Asa Hursh, executive director of Art Alliance Austin, described “Silent Room” as “un-Instagrammable,” which runs contrary to the increasing number of museums that turn its halls into social media hotspots that inspire selfies more than considered thought.
“So often you just walk up to something,” says Heijdens, “take a picture and say, ‘I’ve seen this.'” [“Silent Room”] gives you a minute to reflect rather than just snap a picture and go on to the next thing.”
A black box designed to be entered alone would seem to be a security concern in this climate, but guards would run counter to the spirit of the work. “For me it’s very important that people go in there on their own for a moment,” Heijdens says. “We don’t really want a guard in there because you’d behave differently.” For the Austin installation, organizers debated having a video camera in the box, but as Heijdens asks, “Do you really want to go to a world where everything is recorded?”
My first reflex when I entered the box alone was in fact to get out my phone. But after a minute, I tried to put away any thoughts of disproving claims the room was unInstagrammable. The narrow-band lighting doesn’t entirely erase color, but gives off warm hues that feel soothing. Despite the industrial nature of the sound-proofing materials that make up the room’s thick walls, the effect is something like throwing on a comfortable blanket and hiding away from the world for a moment.
Experiences of “Silent Room” vary widely. “It’s just a box,” a staffer at the Embassy of the Netherlands told his colleagues after trying it out for a moment. “Silent Room” is just a box. But the simplicity of its concept and design makes its silence a welcome antidote to an overwhelming world.
“Silent Room” is on view through February 1 at the Netherlands Embassy, 4200 Linnean Ave NW, about a ten-minute walk from Van Ness Metro. You can visit the installation on weekdays from 12-2 p.m. and on the weekend from 12-4 p.m. Free, but email was-rsvp@minbuza.nl to register with the number of visitors, names, and the desired date and time of visit.
