“Eavesdropping”, the purpose of the project is to develop the question of open access for the public to political debates which take place in the Parliament. The experimental project proposes to place symbolic microphones on the four statues that adorn the stairs of the hall under the dome during the parliamentary sessions in order to transmit the atmosphere and informal discussions without filter and directly to the public.
These statues represent the four Swiss national languages, so there will be four pavilions, one in each linguistic region of Switzerland. Inside the pavilion citizens will have the opportunity to react and respond to politicians by writing on panels connected live to the Parliament. They are also connected to each other to see what is written in other regions. A surround sound system is set up to offer a realistic acoustic experience of the hall beneath the dome. The noise canceling technology is imagined life-size in order to reduce the noise of the surroundings of the pavilion but allow a certain degree of immersion.
In order to bring an additional dimension to the project, the sound collected by the microphones will be analyzed and at the end of the day the four words or themes most heard during the day will be inscribed on the panels and a public debate will be organized around these themes.The pavilion is temporary and must therefore be easily dismountable. All constructive elements are dimensioned in order to fit in a truck. Such mobility will allow them to transport the pavilion when necessary but also to stay on site during the installation and turn it into a coffee area.