«Sound cinema has invented silence»
(Robert Bresson)
On Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter the standard setting for videos is «mute». More than 120 years after its invention silent cinema has become the default mode.
Today’s practice is supposed to make video consumption smoother. But it could also make us think about the frightening power silence could only attain with the advent of cinematic sound. In muting we might hear something far more unsettling than what words and images can express.