Join us for the Los Angeles launch of Disc Journal’s second issue, which takes up the theme of intimacy.
Commissioned by Disc Journal, the design collective Office Party was invited to develop two events, one hosted in New York City and the other in Los Angeles, that explore opposing models of intimacy unique to two common party environments: the dance and the dinner party. The respectively loud and quiet spaces of each gathering calibrate the terms of interpersonal engagement—how close do you need to be to speak with someone, what kind of body language is appropriate, what can other people see you do, and what can slide unnoticed, masked by the distractions of the party.
The quiet launch event, hosted at the Materials & Applications Storefront in Los Angeles, converts the noise of the gathering’s Sunset Boulevard venue into the polite silence of a dinner party through the installation of a horizontal, 4-by-8 ft acoustically-engineered table. Sound-absorbing panels on the surface of the dinner table and the surrounding walls deaden ambient noise, bringing the conversation of guests, the sounds of eating, and the percussion of utensils to the fore. The remaining noises are recorded by conspicuously-placed microphones that sit as centerpieces on the table, making diners aware of how their voices and actions might be transmitted across the space of the party.
The remnants of the launch party will be left in place for display in the M_A Storefront, leaving traces of the evening’s activities. Recorded sounds of the event will be made available for remote listening, reactivating the guests’ conversations and discussions of the publication.
Disc explores the entanglements between architecture, media, and technology. Each issue has a different theme, form, and design. Disc is editorially independent and para-institutional.
Office Party is an international research and design collective specializing in the production of temporary events, installations, and exhibitions. With an attention to sustainable material systems and community resource-pooling, the office critically examines the role of parties and similar ephemeral spaces as the origin of complex social and material networks with urban, political, and environmental effects. Office Party further investigates the ways that parties provide insight into the development of architecture as a temporary and responsive mode of space-making through written and editorial work.