The original urban art transformed concrete into canvas using a few cans of Krylon. Now Felix Beck, a designer in Berlin, is graffitiing cities with noise. Beck's Soundbombs are innocuous-looking 6-inch plastic shells that broadcast short clips (lines from Shakespeare, flatulence, or anything else you record) to unwitting passersby. The innards are pure RadioShack – a circuit board, 6-volt power cells, and a motion sensor that triggers the audio. "I wanted to draw attention to street art by emphasizing it acoustically," Beck says. "Sound jars people into an awareness of their surroundings."
Soundbombs can be purchased through Beck's Web site (www.soundbombs.info), but he won't sell to just anyone: Wannabe audio anarchists submit applications describing what the device will be used for and how much they're willing to pay. He's received 2,500 proposals, some as esoteric as the aerosol art that inspired his project – including designs for a sound-based scavenger hunt and a possum deterrent to protect rosebushes. His favorite? "A woman who bombed her fridge to remind her not to break her diet," Beck says. That would be the Nagbomb.
– Sean Cooper
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