Work
eternal
Maker Darkfield · Work date 2020-12-03 · Medium headphones · Role control · Experienced by the compiler 2026-04-09 at 14:00
Description
Darkfield Radio, released 3 December 2020. "ETERNAL is a 25 minute immersive audio experience for one person, alone in their bed." Delivered through the Darkfield Radio app with headphones, in 360 binaural audio. The instructions are specific: go to your bedroom, close the door, dim the lights, and lie down on the right side of your bed. A computerised female voice guides the listener through the soundscape. Glen Neath and David Rosenberg: "with the launch of Eternal we hope we've managed to unsettle you in most of the rooms in your house."
On the medium. Darkfield Radio: online audio, listened to alone in bed with the lights off.
NOT A TELEPHONE WORK, and not an Overlook commission — the festival programmed an existing Darkfield Radio piece. App and headphones, coded as a control. The compiler experienced it on 9 April 2026; the work dates from December 2020.
Anatomy
Thirteen criteria after Lauren R. Beck. Each carries a source grade: M maker-confirmed, P published, F first-hand, I inferred by the compiler, ? not yet established. Definitions are on the anatomy page.
- Participants listen through headphonesyesP
360 binaural audio through headphones, per the maker and the review.
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoP
The instruction is to lie down on the right side of your bed.
- Audio technology is necessaryyesP
A 25-minute audio experience. Remove the audio and nothing remains.
- Site-, situation- or language-specificSituationP
The work names the circumstance it requires: your own bedroom, door closed, lights dimmed, lying on a specified side of the bed.
- Engages with the history of a sitenoI
No documented past of a real place.
- Created for an urban environmentnoI
A bedroom, not a city.
- Created as an artwork other than theaterunknown?
Darkfield is a theater company but the work is programmed as immersive audio; the framing is mixed.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Intended to be understood as theateryesI
Darkfield is a theater company and the festival programmed it in an immersive strand.
- Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantnoP
A complete binaural world designed to override the room, not to incorporate it.
- Spectator must participatenoP
The review is explicit: no speaking or physical action is required of the listener.
- Has live performers other than the participantsnoP
A computerised voice. Nobody performs during the session.
- Involves game playnoI
No rules, objective or resolution state.
- Uses props other than the listening devicenoP
Nothing is handled; the experience is entirely audio.
1 of thirteen are still unknown for this work. If you experienced it, you can settle them in a minute.