Guida ragionevole al rumore più atroce

Silence exists solely as a semiotic construct; acoustically, it is nothing more than background noise. When juxtaposed with sound, noise implies both control and its opposite—liberation and chaos. Noise and silence converge when noise itself becomes a marker of the unspeakable. Whether imposed or intentionally sought, their nature remains unchanged, yet they yield contrasting experiences—suffering or pleasure. Phonography emerged to document sound (noise), but it also has the capacity to produce it. The realization that music could be composed from noise rather than from musical notes inaugurated the era of timbre. Noise not only makes music audible but also draws attention to the phonographic medium that enables and sustains it.