Unanthem is a sound work composed from national anthems sourced online. It draws from all recognised sovereign states, around 190 to 200 anthems, depending on classification.

Each anthem was placed into a timeline using Audacity. I began by playing them together to see what would happen when they overlap. From there, I standardised the tempo. I calculated an average BPM and adjusted each anthem so they align rhythmically.

The longest anthem runs for 3 minutes and 34 seconds. I extended all the others to match this duration. Once equalised in tempo and length, I layered them into a single track.

What emerges is not harmony but noise. A dense, compressed field of sound. The anthems collapse into each other until they become almost indistinguishable.

The work is concerned with how national anthems, in their current form, often carry a shared aesthetic rooted in European musical traditions. Orchestration, melody, structure, these elements repeat across nations regardless of geography. Instruments and tonal systems associated with European history appear globally, shaping how nations sonically represent themselves.

This produces a strange continuity. Countries historically positioned as "other" adopt similar musical languages. The result is a kind of global sameness, where difference is flattened through repetition.

With contemporary media, these anthems are constantly broadcast, televised, circulated. They become part of a continuous loop of national identity, amplified through systems of distribution and consumption. In that repetition, they begin to blur.

The work points to how these sonic structures are entangled with histories of colonialism, class systems, and forms of control. Even where nations resist or redefine identity, they often retain these inherited frameworks.

Unanthem compresses this into a single listening experience. It is loud, unstable, and at times uncomfortable. It can feel like a drone, but one that carries fragments of many competing signals.

The installation extends this into space. Flags from different nations are arranged in a line. From one angle, they appear distinct. From another, they overlap and become transparent, merging into a single, unclear field of colour. The image breaks down in the same way the sound does.

The title Unanthem suggests undoing. To unmake, to unravel, to remove the assumed stability of national symbols. Not replacing them, but pulling them apart.

UNanthem / Melletios Kyriakidis + Dr Tim Gregory
UNSW Lab Sessions, 2025 / 351 Inc.