Sofa sounds tell stories to sitters

A LITTLE loungeroom is preserving the stories of the young at heart.

Created by Amie Brûlée, sensory art installation The Talking Couch was based at Alfred Deakin Place last week, speaking to those who took a few minutes to sit and listen.

With its own built-in speaker, the “delightful” and “quintessentially old fashioned” two-seater – which had a lace throw over it, and a coffee table beside – shared the individual reflections of eight local elderly residents looking back on their younger selves.

“The couch has a selection of stories from Ballarat people over 80, all about four or five minutes, talking about the things they used to do in the evenings when they were in their 20s,” she said.

“I went and interviewed people that I know or knew, some in Nazareth House, and one of my parents’ neighbours took one story from each person, and then had a younger voice record them.

“The general populous tend to turn off when voices sound old, so the reason I wanted to record these with younger voices was because they’re younger stories, and it means it’s radio quality.”

Each of the eight standalone stories within the couch was paired with a piece of music that is, or was, meaningful to the storyteller, and their reflection.

The installation acted as a reminder of the older generation’s “extraordinary lives” and experiences, full of big events, innovation, and even the ordinary.

“This generation was born between or during the Second World War, and have lived through all of the incredible changes that have come about in the last century.

“Telephones and televisions were new for them, they’ve experienced the digital age, cars, and air travel becoming normal,” Brûlée said.

“It’s important to capture the stories of the older generation before they go, and for us as younger people to listen to those stories.

“They teach us about life. They have lived through extraordinary experiences and they’re really interesting people.”

Brûlée hopes other regional towns might be interested to create their own versions of the project with their locals.