February 13^th 1945 was a dark day in the history of the German city of Dresden: that day, one of the most violent bombardments of the whole WWII took place and brought almost complete destruction upon the city. The RAF and USAF took 13 raids over Dresden between the 13^th and the 15^th of February, dropping around 3,900 tons of explosives and incendiary bombs, destroying most part of one of Germany's most important cultural cities, the so-called Florence on Elbe. Designer Markus Kison thought about creating a special memorial to remind us of the horrors of that war and make us more aware of the true blessings of peace. 

The Touch Echo is actually a combination between a historical place, Brühl’s Terrace in Dresden and a special-design gadget that helps you relive the sound heard by the Dresden inhabitants on the 13^th of February 1945.

All you have to do is place both elbows on the metallic rail at the edge of the terrace and cover your ears. The vibrations transmitted by the small attached gadget will travel through the metal bars, go up your bones and as you clasp your head, they'll resonate in your internal ear, by means of bone conductivity.

And despite your covered ears, you'll still be able to hear the dramatic sound of the planes and the explosion, just like those present there that day did. Inviting passers-by to enter a contemplative state, the Touch Echo can develop a very realistic reproduction of the past events, almost rivaling the movie-industry time-travel, thus the memories evoked by this gadget seeming more accurate and full of life, far more impressive than a plaque or a statue.

The vibrations are generated by four special design resonators attached to the metal rail and whose action sends the sounds across the whole structure, allowing several people to relive those nightmare audio scenes at the same time. Some who expressed their opinions on the web suggest that such a contraption should be installed in many more other places, for a more vivid remembrance of our (humanity's) past errors.

The principle of this gadget is somewhat older as bone conductivity was discovered many years ago; you can also check out another interesting application for this kind of physics here.


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