Artist Oliver Hyde is partnering with Lenny’s Records to produce an interactive music experience for the South Australia Living Arts Festival, which aims to break down algorithmic playlist curation.

With a passion for multifaceted artistry and contemporary listening methods, Oliver Hyde is developing his amateur piece The Listening Booth for the SALA Festival. Held at Lenny’s Records in Torrensville, the project invites people of any age to attend a unique listening experience.

“Children could have a play around and find a little wonder,” Oliver says.

“Music aficionados may find themselves curious to know what they’re hearing. The average Joe may be blown away to discover that a whole new world of music exists.”

The Listening Booth intends to highlight the importance of personal expression through music taste, and for audiences to question the use of algorithms to curate playlists or musical blends.

“The user having full control over what they’re listening to, rather than music curated by an algorithm, is one of the main points of the piece,” Oliver says.

The concept for the aural exhibition started as a way to amuse himself, later evolving into a fully-fledged project under the SALA banner.

“At the time, I was thinking about the level of ceremony attached to accessing the sonic memories captured on various media, [like] dusting off a record and dropping the needle [or] wiping the fingerprints off a CD and inserting it into the player,” Oliver says.

“I think it’s this ceremony that makes the listening experience special.

“I wanted to test the potential by inserting some of this into the touchscreen/smartphone era of music consumption.”

Oliver Hyde has an ear for art.

Each form of physical media tells a story of the past and the constant evolution of modern consumption is something that Oliver intends to capture within this project.

He says that the choices of music are accessible to all music lovers and will introduce people to songs from the Lenny’s Records catalogue.

“It’s an eclectic mix of music. Hopefully, most of it is new to listeners,” he says.

When discussing the range of music available in the experience, Oliver gives a subtle hint to what people can expect going in.

“The clips contained in the piece are far from Taylor Swift, but not exactly Wolf Eyes either,” he says.

During the early stages of the exhibition’s development, Oliver went through multiple concepts, finally landing on an interactive experience.

“In the beginning, I was thinking that this would take the form of a kind of jukebox in a café or something. At about this time, I discovered Lenny’s Records and it all seemed to click,” he says.

The Listening Booth set-up

Lenny’s Records Owner Lenin Simos and Oliver were friends prior to the project’s conception, but lost contact over the years, only becoming “reacquainted” with each other after Oliver reached out.

Until recently, Oliver was working as a teacher. He is now incorporating his artistic talents into this exhibition, as well as the craft of fine furniture making.

“I think I find it easier to flesh out ideas by making things. By making the piece, new ideas and problems arise, and these become stimuli for future work,” he says.

“That’s what I achieve by making it. I get nowhere otherwise. If others get something out of it, I’d be thrilled.”

The Listening Booth is open at Lenny’s Records on 192B Henley Beach Road, Torrensville. It runs Wednesday to Saturday from 10am ’til 5pm and Sunday 12 ’til 5pm. The exhibition is on all through August.