Electroacoustic sculpture with original segment of the Berlin Wall and 1000 recycled loudspeakers, radios, and amplifiers. People can call up the sculpture and talk through it directly for 3 minutes: more than 900 calls were registered. For DJ concerts the sculpture also served as PA system.
Le MUR SONORE. The Berlin Wall as a participative sculpture for the Festival Accroche-Coeurs in Angers/ France September 2011.
The concept for this sculpture dates back to a West Berlin art competition in 1987 “Overcoming the Wall by Painting the Wall”. Winning project model for the contest.
My project for the competition, SPEAKER‘S WALL, won second prize is in the permanent collection of Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin.
History/ General info
Since 1982 I have specialized in creating interactive public sculptures in public spaces using recycled, cheap, and “found” electronics as my artistic medium. These are “active” electroacoustic sculptures: quite often the function as “Speakers Corner” where the public can express themselves “live”.
In some situations I use former public (disguarded) monuments and “upgrade” them using modern technology and electronics.
Some examples:
SPEAKER‘S MAILBOXES. “Material & Wirkung”e.V, 1985 Exhibition in a Berlin apartment house. The tenants are asked to make cassette recordings for their respective mailboxes.
SPEAKER‘S MONUMENT. 1991. INTERFERENZEN– Art from West Berlin Exhibition, Riga, Lithuania. A discarded Stalinist sculpture (“Heros of the Working Class”) is equipped with loudspeakers, telephone answering machine, and amplifier.
People can call up the sculpture and talk through it.
AUDIO PROFILE. 1983. Gallery no name, Berlin.B. Maubrey + B. Mayer40 loudspeakers shaped as a silhouette, 3 portable cassette recorders with Berlin neigborhood sounds.
SPEAKER‘S MEMORIAL. 1991.Prize winning idea in the competition “Mauer im Kopf“ (“The Wall in your Head“).Recycled East German memorial at former East-West border crossing equipped with loudspeaker system. People can call up the memorial and talk through it.
SPEAKERS HONECKER. 1992Official politician’s portrait equipped with sampler (digital recording device), loudspeaker, and amplifier. The spectator can record his/her own voice and have it played back through the portrait.
AUDIO IGLOO.
Igloo structure made up of 300 recycled loudspeakers, tuners, record players,and receivers.Sound: electromagnetic air waves (white noise).
1997. Installation at Hull Time Based Arts, U.K.
2004 Parochial Church, Berlin.
2010. Ostrale/Dresden.
RAP FIELDS
JENSEITS VON EDEN Exhibition 2005 LandKunstLeben / Steinheofel (Brandenburg)
A sound installation with 3 rows of 20 emphatically shouting telephone receivers.Each row has its own particular voice and is labelled according to its “variety”:“Fukiou”, “Esshohl”, and “Sukmaidik”.Materials: 60 re-cycled East German telephone receivers and 3 Korean mini-samplers. 12 volt, 30 watts.
AUDIO SUICIDE.
2009. Bad Belzig / Eisenhardt Fortress
Artist throws screaming loudspeakers off tower.
Audio Guillotine
Wooden instrument that smashes loudspeakers.
Visitors are invited to talk into the speakers, their voices are then smashed.
Materiels: 300 loudspeakers, sampler, amplifier , microphone.
2011 Tonspur/ der Lautsprecher MuseumQuartier, Vienna.
1989 Festival PERSPECTIVES, Saarbrücken.
2009 Vox Populi Exhibition / BurgEisenhardt/Bad Balzig.
JOBFIELD 3000
Village Resort Exhibition organized by Kunstpflug e.V./ Brandenburg). 2008.
A small field is plowed in the same manner as an asparagus fields around the town of Beelitz (Brandenburg). 60 telephone receivers are planted in rows similar to an asparagus field. The telephone receivers play voices of different job openings in the area. These are downloaded from the internet and played “live” through the telephone speakers. Each row has different job announcements.
SPEAKERS GATE.
Kirschau (Saxen) 2010
A copy of a historical landmark in its original size. The Koerse is the ruined entrance archway of a 6th century fortress in Kirschau. The sculpture is constructed out of 350 used loudspeakers, radios, amplifiers that are wired together. Sound: whitenoise from 5 FM radios.
SPEAKER‘S CONTAINER. 1987 Exhibition: ART IN CONTAINER, Freiburg Kunstverein. A container is equipped with loudspeakers, amplifier, and telephone answering machine. For the duration of the exhibition. Anyone can call the container and speak inside it.
THE POLYPHONE. 1989. Musée de la Villette, Paris.Model for the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. Material: 7 oversize polyester telephone receivers, telephone answering system, amplifiers, loudspeakers. Seven people can call up the individual
sculptural elements and express themselves. Their voices can be heard by the public and the other callers. The public on site can also be heard by the callers and can respond to the callers.
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