The media artist and composer Thomas Wagensommerer studied digital media technology, philosophy and transdisciplinary art. His compositional works are positioned at the interfaces between man and machine – a field of activity which is in rapid transformation, due to permanent technological change and the fundamental deepening of the relationship between man and technology.

Of Making Hear.

[24:37 min] download for: mobile, computer and iPod | send feedback

As a media artist, Thomas Wagensommerer explores the sound faculty of electronic instruments (the existence of sounds produced by it) as well as the possibilities of sound design in the era of the Web 2.0. more »

Constantin Luser challenges us to enter the maze of his imagination: he corners us against the wall of our indifference and confronts us with the unavoidable question whether we will ever be able to escape. But escape what? A portrait.

[7:49 min] 545B: mobile | computer & iPod | send feedback

In any case, it tames the wildness of our thinking, which means that when it happens –ever so rarely- the hegemony of the concept is erased and for a moment we are cured of our illness separating us from time – our rationality. more »

The American sound artist, Douglas Henderson, studied composition and theory at Princeton University under Milton Babbitt, a pioneer of synthesizers and Pulitzer Prize winner, Elie Yarden, and J.K. Randall, co-editor of the magazine, Perspectives of New Music.
Henderson currently resides in Brooklyn and, after receiving a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service in 2007, in Berlin.

Visible Sound

[17:09 min] download for: mobile, computer and iPod | send feedback

Part 2. Playback

[23:11 min] download for: mobile, computer and iPod | send feedback

His artistic work has been supported by renowned foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Foundation of Contemporary Art New York, and numerous other grants; his list of exhibition activities and performances is as noteworthy as it is international. His compositional work has been presented at countless computer and new music festivals ranging from Seoul to New York. He has collaborated intensely with modern dance choreographers, composing for the likes of Jeremy Nelson, David Zambrano, and Meg Stuart, as well as for numerous dance theatres across Europe and the US. more »

Most of his sound installations are not recorded. They would not function on loudspeakers or headphones, says Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, because his compositions typically use the entire body as an acoustic reception space. It can be good that the sound does not penetrate the through the eardrum, but instead, for example, through the soles of the feet - for those who would stand on their own loudspeakers. Sonntag’s artistic achievements involve interfaces between the human body, technical media systems, and sound-mediated space perceptions. For example, in one project, he plunges a randomly vibrating column into the earth, whose upper edge serves as ground-level manhole. Those who step on the manhole can sense the depth of the earth with their bodies through the oscillations of the manhole, as well as experience space in a different, nonvisual way.

The Architecure of Sound

[16:47 min] download for: mobile, computer and iPod | send feedback

The Essence of Electricity

[11:29 min] download for: mobile, computer and iPod | send feedback

Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag was born in 1965. He studied trombone under Heinz Fadle at the University of Music Lübeck, then he studied eight different subjects, ranging from art history to philosophy, in Oldenburg. Since then, he has taught at universities in Istanbul, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Oldenburg, and Darmstadt. more »

Through his artwork, Carsten Nicolai overcomes the segregation of forms of sensory perception. Sound is made visible, light frequencies are heard. Sound, light, time, and space are the cornerstones of the work of the artist, who is making neither a political statement nor yet another self-reflexive discourse about art. Instead, he tries to investigate and penetrate the frontiers of perception, of which we have no conception but which do seem to have an effect on us.

| send feedback

Nicolai is experimental in his art in a scientific sense. He formulates precise conditions, clears away that which is unnecessary, defines environments in which his artworks can grow: sometimes through the influence of the public, sometimes through moments of disturbance, blurring, or chance in the system. Self-organized processes – for example, the formation of snowflakes in the air due to impurities and disturbances – fascinate him. Through the formation of self-organization and chance, Nicolai can step into the background as an artist and avoids the personification of his artwork. Such processes speak for themselves. more »

People go through life with open ears – they cannot close their ears, as they can their eyes, to the sounds of the world, unless they physically block them. The ear is a completely closed off sensory organ. We hear, even when we sleep. We hear sharply only rarely and perceive differently, those noises which surround and penetrate us. If we tune into ourselves and back in time, not only the sounds from streetcar, cow-, door-, recess, fire brigade, church, or bicycle bells resonate within us, but also an amazingly extensive audio cosmos. We come to learn that sounds have emotional connotations, that our feelings have different intonations.

A Hearing Perspective

[27:27 min] download for: mobile, computer and iPod | send feedback

Sam Auinger is engaged with the world of sounds, tones, and noises and their geographical-cultural as well as historical differences. He thereby carries on a tradition of artistic involvement with sound in which people such as Erik Satie, Luigi Russolo, John Cage, and Murray Schäfer made history. Trained at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and University Mozarteum Salzburg, more »