Muzak Allows Autonomy
Muzak was originally designed to ease the shock of abstract architecture and provide a greater level of comfort and stimulation within impersonal environments. Muzak counters (and thereby enables) architectural autonomy by providing its own sonic anti-aesthetic which produces affect without a corresponding formal gesture. Muzak's abstraction accommodates difference and offers a future of unlimited, undifferentiated choice. It is both autonomous and distant, yet maintains a level of sensory engagement. Muzak fills the empty spaces of work and consumption with a sonic layer that is both alienating and popular at once.