Why this project?

We live in the so-called Anthropocene, the first geological epoch in the history of this planet dominated by just one species: Humans. That means human activity can be felt, seen and heard in almost every corner of the planet.

But as a result of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been experiencing an unprecedented slowdown or even shutdown of public life and travel.

While most of us communicate or capture human activities visually, we decided to use the lockdowns as a unique opportunity to capture how humans change the planet’s soundscape. Therefore, in April 2020, we launched the Pandemic Silence Project, a global call to record the sounds during and after pandemic shutdowns.