How do feelings sound? - An interview with Yves Peitzner

I’ve always been fascinated by the invisible stuff—thoughts, feelings, moods. In my earlier work, I used light—and often sound—as a kind of language for what’s going on inside us. So using music to reflect human emotions just felt like the natural next step.

The idea that brainwaves—and the emotions drawn from them—could be turned into a shared soundscape has something almost magical about it.
 What really excites me is that moment when tech stops feeling cold and distant—and instead becomes a bridge between the inner world and the outside one, between people.

In Gefühlsrauschen, three visitors create a sound space together. What’s going on between them—do they become an emotional sound collective?

That’s the hope! Gefühlsrauschen isn’t a solo performance—it’s something people do together. Three folks come into a space, each with their own inner emotional state. These feelings get turned into sound, which instantly affects everyone else in the room.

It creates this emotional feedback loop: feelings shape the music, and then the music shapes the feelings.

That back-and-forth forms an emotional sound collective—a kind of conversation between what’s inside and what’s around, between people and the space, and it keeps evolving as they interact.

Tech that reads emotions enters sensitive territory—and that’s exactly why its design matters so much.

In Gefühlsrauschen, it’s not about diagnosing people. We’re just working with moods and emotional directions. The AI isn’t judging—it’s offering input. The goal was never to analyze people, but to create a space for resonance and interaction.

That’s why the design is low-key, transparent, and open to interpretation—because emotions aren’t just data points. They’re messy, alive, and deeply personal.

I see a lot of potential. In the arts, it could open new ways to connect with others and build empathy.

In therapy, especially in children’s hospitals, emotional states could be made visible through light and sound—gently supporting patients emotionally. In cities too—imagine smart homes or public spaces that respond to how people are feeling, trying to boost well-being using music or light cues. That could change how we relate to our environments—and to each other.

I usually leave something unfinished in my installations. It’s like a frame that only gets completed when people step into it.

A lot of my work is experimental—I like watching how people respond, engage, and interact with it. What really moves me in Gefühlsrauschen is when three strangers sit down—and then out of nowhere, a beautiful chord emerges. Nobody says a word, but you can feel something happening between them. To me, it’s not that the tech is human—but it can show something human. It can help create connection and remind us how much we need resonance sometimes.