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"Symphony of Violence" provoke Brazilians to
break the inertia in face of crime news

Experience mixes information, neurology and audio techniques to take the viewers off from the comfort zone with feelings like tension and fear


Gun possession is heavily controlled in Brazil. Even so, a person is murdered every 10 minutes in the country, most of the time with bullets. In the last 15 years it was more than 850,000 deaths, an index higher than countries at war like Syria and Iraq. Just in 2017, more than 59,000 people were murdered in the Brazil, number greater than the United States, Canada, Europe and Oceania together.

But even in front of this terrible scenario, the news of a new crime has become so daily that it doesn’t shock Brazilians anymore. Helping to transform this perception, the creative collective Unlockers, Lucha Libre Audio and Drac Studio (USA) has developed a complete experience to provoke again these human natural sensations in situations of intense discomfort.

Special posters were produced to highlight some of the most recent murders committed in Brazil, such as those of the politician Marielle Franco (38), executed with four shots in Rio de Janeiro after leaving work; João Pedro Engels (72), victim of four shots leaving a bank branch in São Paulo; and the five boys brutally murdered inside their own condominium, also in Rio.

Each poster received the same number of shots of the same caliber as the weapons used in each of these events. The sound and the marks of the shots (turned into scores) inspired the composition of the "Symphony of Violence - the less pleasant song to hear", using sound resources that generate real physical reactions to the listeners. The track also features drum tracks recorded by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Matt Sorum (Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) shortly after his first contact with the material.

"This musical experiment was created to get people out of the current inertia in the face of violence in Brazil. We’ve combined the real noises of shots, low frequency sounds, musical dissonance and other elements that have proven to result in feelings such as anxiety, tension and fear – things that we should feel naturally in situations of violence such as those we are live in", explains Paulinho Corcione, partner and producer of Lucha Libre Audio. "These infrasounds, around 18 and 20 Hz, are known as the 'frequency of fear'. They are produced naturally by some predators, such as tigers, and it can generate several uncomfortable sensations, including their paralysis”, said Dr. Roberto Hirsh, neurologist at the Albert Einstein Hospital and consultant on the project.

Through the site Sinfoniadaviolencia . com (portuguese and english), it is possible to immerse yourself into the experience, testing your own reactions to the symphony. The visitors are also invited to check the posters, read more about the crimes and donate to educational projects and institutions that fight against violence in Brazil. The physical posters were transformed into an itinerant exhibition that has already passed through cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Their next destination should be Brasília, along with an invitation for the Minister of Public Security to join the cause.

The main objective of the Symphony of Violence is to keep the debate about violence alive in Brazil, until this kind of news no longer exists.