Sound the Asylum is experimental documentation that catalogs the aural identities of abandoned 19th century Kirkbride Plan hospitals by activating and spatially recording the resonant frequencies of their decaying interiors. Designed in accordance with Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride’s system for mental healthcare, these massive buildings provided therapeutic environments with unprecedented access to space, natural light and fresh air, offering a utopian vision for the treatment of mental illness. Despite their promising origins, over time many Kirkbride Plan hospitals were overwhelmed by overpopulation and underfunding.

Sound the Asylum expands conventional, optically-centered documentation methods with an experiential approach rooted in the acoustical properties of rooms once inhabited by patients, caregivers, and visitors. Documenting the sonic traces of their complex histories and irreplaceable materials expands awareness of architecture’s legacy in the treatment of mental health. Immersive group listening events and binaural audio publications present the recordings.

Timeline (ongoing)

2023, August 9–11:  Recorded at Richardson Olmsted Complex (formerly Buffalo State Hospital), Buffalo, New York

2023, September 22–24:  Installation at PreservationWorks 2023 Photography Benefit Tour. Richardson Olmsted Complex

2023, October 16-18:  Recorded at The Ridges (formerly Athens Lunatic Asylum), Athens, Ohio

2023, November 3:  Presentation at Sensory Decay Symposium. ‘Sensing the Past’ Research Group, University of Amsterdam

2024, February:  Awarded ACT-UAW Local 7902 Part-Time Faculty Professional Development Fund, The New School, New York

2025: Publish online archival catalog of audio recordings, photographs, video recordings and document scans

2026: Audio processing and post-production in preparation of binaural listening catalog release

2027: Release Sound the Asylum listening catalog and present immersive listening events for the communities in Buffalo and Athens

Audio Example

Female Ward H, room 114
Richardson Olmsted Campus (former Buffalo State Hospital)
Buffalo, New York, August 11, 2023
ambisonic recording and binaural mix by Melissa Grey & David Morneau

This 23’ x 37’ room, with large broken windows and layers of peeling yellow paint, is a parlor space where patients would gather communally. We recorded 11 successive iterations to reveal the resonant frequencies. This example presents the recordings in reverse order, beginning with the final iteration and moving seamlessly through each previous one to reveal the sounds of the room. Of note are the summer insects and the distant crash of a door blowing closed in another part of the building. Listen through headphones to experience the full spatial surround of the binaural recordings.