Sound related art projects by Tobi Maier


During the lecture at h.arta gallery space in Timisoara, I presented different artistic practices working with sound to some extend. Some of the artists introduced I was involved with personally in the production of new works others exhibited in projects I (co-) curated. What interested me during these productions was the tremendous scope that lies within the medium, ranging from technically sophisticated composed installations, via the spontaneous urban intervention to radio. While the format of this text does not allow and is not intended to draw the bigger picture of ‘sound art' since Marinetti, Russolo and Cage, it will set a tiny stage for a selection of contemporary practitioners.

Equally enthused by plumbing, welding and art working are Belfast-based artists Paddy Bloomer and Nicky Keogh. During a project in Lisbon (2003) the artists constructed Sewer Disco, a sound and light system installed in the sewers of the busy nightlife district Bairro Alto. An immaterial medium, the music selected by the artists spread through the canalization and while entertaining some kept those awake who found a weird reverberations coming through their toilet pipes. Exhausted from their hefty installation work the DJ's did not realize the sirens of police workers arriving the next morning to ‘uninstall' their artwork from the sewers. The next year Bloomer & Keogh accepted an invitation to come to Manifesta 5 in Donostia - San Sebastian. In their luggage: bin disco, a disco in a ‘wheelie' bin. The artists connected the sound system in the decorated bin to lampposts throughout the city and performed J.S. Bach in the morning and Rock'n'Roll at night. Keogh is now preparing a residency in New York where he plans to test ‘the indestructible sound system' on the streets of Queens.

Christopher Murphy aka Fehler runs Belfast based label fällt. For the ongoing piece Invisible cities (2002-) Murphy asked friends and artists from around the world to record their favorite sound in the city they live in. Visitors to the exhibitions pick up headphones and plug into the different sound paintings playing from CD in wall mounted wooden cubes that depict an excerpt from the world map featuring the location of the recording.

In her work, Vienna based Elisabeth Penker is questioning visual structures in relation to language. By decoding visual systems and displacing rhythm and language into a non-linear structure, Penker is showing the commonality of Modern Art and what she calls “First Nation Art”. For her exhibition at HTTP gallery in London, Elisabeth Penker developed a new sound piece Die Bildhauerin (2005). The piece is s upported by a sonic structure constructed of wood and various industrial floor materials, which are amplified and function as instrument and interactive sound sculpture during the exhibition.

Composer and pianist Michael J Schumacher runs Diapason gallery in New York, one of the few spaces dedicated to sound art in the world. Saturday evenings feature installations by a varying set of composers and visitors to the gallery are invited to surround sound experiences at times accompanied by Schumacher on the piano. Schumacher also invested in a sound hotel in his Brooklyn flat containing a 24 channel sound system with a composition running 365 days a year, a modified version of which was presented by the artist at MOT gallery for Six Sites for Sound (London, 2005).

I close with another project that is a steady source of inspiration for my work, art radio station Resonance 104.4FM in London. Run by the London Musicians Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to improvised and experimental music, it offers a forum to a range of artists, musicians, writers, pensioners and everybody else interested in collaborating to alternative radio.

H.arta space, Timisoara, Romania, 20.06.2006


Tobi Maier is a curator and critic based in Frankfurt am Main


Recommended URLS:

www.resonancefm.com
www.sixsitesforsound.net
www.diapasongallery.org