Obsoletion is the call center of agnostic purgatory. It is an interactive art piece with a radio speaker and a control box powered by microelectronics. The user takes on the point of view of a soul stuck in the bureaucracy of the afterlife. While waiting for their turn to progress into what comes next, the user is called on to reflect on their life and contemplate their pre-birth existence. Sonically harmonious classical music becomes the dreaded tedium of perpetual hold music, while celestial synthesizers blend the heavenly with the associated irritation of repetitive drones. However, there is the hint of something darker as the user tunes between the channels. Occasionally disrupting the monotony is a wide, dissonant chord overlaid over the sounds of a screaming mass of people. Designed to induce feelings of unease, a larger story emerges as the promise of a peaceful afterlife is contended by an ever-present, cursed frequency. The form factor of a vintage radio suggests a comparison between obsolete technology and an obsolete existence. Themes of birth, life, and death are suggested underneath a veil of humor. Overall, the project is an exploration into the psychological effect of sound and the juxtaposition of earthly mundanity and spiritual divinity.
