Wow
as part of FAXEN
Multimedia installation, 2012
5-channel audio, microphone, mirror ball motor, speakers, table, text excerpt of William B. Seabrook’s book Witchcraft, Voice: Sam Bunn
Dimensions: 200x200x150cm
The sound installation “Wow” explores a text by American author William B. Seabrook entitled “Wow!”, a reflection on what might happen if human language were abolished. Seabrook’s short story is based on an experiment with Aleister Crowley. In 1920, after a conversation about Trappist monks and their vows of silence, they both agreed to suspend normal verbal communication and limit themselves to the predetermined monosyllable “wow” for a week. Based on this experience, Seabrook wrote the short story “Wow!”, set in ancient China, in which people discover peace and contentment through replacing human language with the word “wow”; eventually, a second fraction emerges, those who spread dissent by using “wo”. In consequence, two great armies fight to the death over “wow” and “wo”, leaving nothing but “a few empty bubbles floating on a river of blood.”
Upon approaching the sound installation, visitors experience a blended soundscape of multiple voices. A slowly rotating microphone passes by a circular array of speakers playing back fragments of Seabrook’s short story. By putting on headphones, the listener can hear a steady fading in and out and experience a mechanical remix of Seabrooks’s text that is constantly generating new and unexpected combinations.
Exhibitions
- FINE SOUND – keine medienkunst | Das Weisse Haus, Vienna/AT | 20.2. – 30.3.2013
- Alle Worte sind aus! / All words have run out! | Kunstraum Goethestrasse xtd, Linz AT | 17.10. – 14.12.2012
I-L
as sixbus
Album Release, 2012
digital file
The new field recording single of sixbus is here to listen and download. The two pieces were produced on specific occasions in 2009. The first track originated during rehearsals for a concert at the Playground Festival in Innsbruck. The second was part of the project Radiospotting which took place in Linz.
Nebenstelle
sound object, diy instrument, 2012
mixed media, vocoder, telephone
Ein altes Telefon mit eingebautem Vocoder und rot lackiert wird zur Effektschleuder.
Used as instrument in performances and releases:
- MENU Festival, Hradec Králové/CZ, 2016
- sixbus – Feldsaiten, 2014, Album, Lauthals
- Realoase, Autark, file, 2008
- The Hitman Demo, Lauthals, 2007
- may he hetal?
untitled (widespread 2)
as part of FAXEN
3-part graphic, 2011
digital Lightjet, Dibond, 60 x 40cm
The three-part graphic „untitled (widespread 2)“ shows three seamlessly repeating textures, the basis of which is the Vöst Alpine logo. Solving this logo into an endlessly repeatable pattern creates an optical illusion in the form of interference and noise. The effect of „untitled (widespread 2)“ – the emergence of blurring, segmentation and fragmentation finds their analogy in the history of the steel group.
Exhibitions
- Salt Linz City, Salzamt Linz/AT, 30.6 – 5.8 2011
Konstellationen
The sound of the renaissance fountain „Planetenbrunnen“ is the acoustically determinant element in the courtyard of the state house in Linz. The intervention consists of two parts.
The concept of the installation in phase one is to change the acoustic perception of the site by subtraction and not by adding sounds. This is achieved b
The sound of the fountain in the inner courtyard of the upper Austrian government office in Linz is the focus of this sound intervention, which consists of two parts.
Part one: Switching off the fountain every 5 minutes for a period of 5 minutes dramatically alters our acoustic perception of the space. A significant change of the soundscape achieved simply by subtraction.
Part two begins when the fountain is switched off for the winter months. Now the sound of the fountain is added artificially by hidden speakers. The lack of a visual equivalent to the splashing water creates a jarring experience. The two differing methods, subtraction and addition of sound, test the perception of the recipients in different ways.
Exhibitions
- Hörstadt Krypthophone Festival | Linz/AT | 14.11. – 6.11.2011
Double Layer
as part of FAXEN
Sound installation, 2011
Fans, speakers, microphone stands, audio mixer
Dimensions: 400x400x150cm
“Double Layer” is a delicately balanced system of feedback sounds, wind and kinetic energy. The airflow from six fans is used to rotate six speakers. Half of the speakers are used as microphones to pick up the fan’s air stream, the remaining speakers to play it back. By and by the sounds evolve through layers of feedback, wind noise and the natural resonance of the space. “Double Layer” functions as an investigation of cause and effect in a self-contained coupling, where
an input produces an output that comes to influence the input once again. What we hear is a fragile structure perpetually on the brink of collapse. This is a special type of network or interaction – an interplay between sound, space and movement.
[su_accordion][su_spoiler title=“Deutsch“ open=“no“ style=“default“ icon=“plus“ anchor=““ class=““]Die über den Ventilatoren hängenden Lautsprecher werden durch den Luftstrom in Rotation versetzt. Drei der so arrangierten Lautsprecher funktionieren als Mikrophone und nehmen die Geräusche und den Luftzug der Ventilatoren ab. Die restlichen Lautsprecher geben die Signale wider. Dieses Netzwerk ist für den Betrachter kaum zu entschlüsseln da die klassische Trennung von Aufnahme und Wiedergabe sowohl optisch als auch akustisch ausgehebelt ist. Was wir hören ist ein fragile Struktur immer nahe am Kollaps. “Double Layer” funktioniert als instabiles System, in Form einer ungelösten Spannung welche sich selbst permanent speist und stört. Was wir hören ermöglicht uns die Materialität von Klang in seiner üblichen Bedeutung zu hinterfragen und wirft in weiterer Folge die Frage auf, ob akustische Verdoppelungen, Interferenzen und Auslöschungen sich am Ende wieder als Objekt oder Ware definieren lassen. Es handelt sich hierbei um eine besondere Art der Interaktion – um ein Bewusstsein über das Wechselspiel von Klang, Raum und Bewegung in Kombination. Oder wie David Toop es in Sinister Resonance erläutert:”…[a] constant access to a less stable world, omnidirectional, always in a state of becoming and receding, known and unknown. This is the world that surrounds us and flows through us, in all its uncertainty.”[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Exhibitions
- Notes on tomorrow | Kristiansand/NOR | 26.9. – 7.11. 2016
- Notes on tomorrow | Kaunas/LT | 7.6. – 15.9 2016
- III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art | Moscow/RU | 10.7. – 19.8.2012
- Schools of Art, HFBK, Dresden, 20.05 – 19.06 2011
- Projekt_Love | Vienna/AT | 18.11 – 09.12 2011
Use Your Illusion
At the showcase of bb15 – space for contem- porary art at the art fair in the State Gallery of Upper Austria FAXEN presented their work, “Use Your Illusion”. Consisting of a commer- cially available hardware store shelf, contain- ing the neon lettering “Use Your Illusion“. The installation refused to take part in the common practice of an art fair, and instead acted as a placeholder for a group exhibition curated by artist-group FAXEN in the prem- ises of bb15. A contribution, as a subver-
sive denial, interpretable as a comment or statement about the situation on site and the staging of art.
In the subsequent exhibition at bb15, the already used hardware store shelf acts as a recurring element to form the exhibition architecture. Based on these elements, the surrounding space is opened up by video projections and screens.
The focus of the exhibition is based on works at the interface between artistic realities and chimaeras in art. The works are addressing these topics and can be subsumed under the concept of illusion. Illusions in the artistic dis- course emerge,especially in relation to issues of aesthetics, presentation and staging.
[su_accordion][su_spoiler title=“Deutsch“ open=“no“ style=“default“ icon=“plus“ anchor=““ class=““]bb15 – Raum für Gegenwartskunst war zu Gast bei der Kunstmesse in der Landesgalerie Oberösterreich. Die Künstlergruppe FAXEN präsentierte hierfür die Arbeit „Use Your Illusion“ bestehend aus einem handelsüblichen Baumarktregal versehen mit dem Neon-Schriftzug „Use Your Illusion“. Die Installation verweigert sich bewusst der üblichen Praxis einer Kunstmesse und fungiert anstelle dessen als Platzhalter für eine, von der Künstlergruppe FAXEN kuratierte, Gruppenausstellung in den Räumlichkeiten des bb15. Ein Beitrag, als subversive Verweigerungshaltung, interpretierbar als Kommentar, Statement oder Frage zu der Situation vor Ort und der Inszenierung von Kunst.In der darauffolgenden Ausstellung im bb15 kehrt das bereits verwendete Baumarktregal in Form der Ausstellungsarchitektur wieder. Ausgehend von diesen Elementen wird der umgebende Raum mittels Videoprojektionen und Screens bespielt. Im Fokus der Ausstellung liegen aktuelle Videoarbeiten im Spannungsfeld von künstlerischen Wirklichkeiten und Trugbildern in der Kunst. Die präsentierten Arbeiten nehmen sich dieser Thematiken an und können unter dem Begriff der Illusion subsumiert werden.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Exhibitions
- Kunst Messe, Landesgalerie, Linz, 2012
- Use Your Illusion, bb15, Linz, 14.11 – 23.11.2012
Participating artists:
- Sam Bunn, Carola Dertnig, ekw14,90, FAXEN, Invernomuto, Tomáš Moravec, Alexandra Navratil, Roman Štětina, Jakub Vrba
Double Layer (live)
as part of FAXEN
Sound performance, 2011
Microphones, microphone stands, audio mixer, analogue effect units
“Double Layer (live)” is a performance based on the sound installation “Double Layer”. By turning on the fans, the concert begins and the microphones start to rotate. The piece is solely based on the fan’s air stream sounds. This monotone and consistent input is modulated and adjusted via various effect units and mixers to create a dynamic and crescendo-like composition. The performance ends by turning off the fans and the subsequent collapse of the piece.
Exhibitions
- F6/Stanice Pardubice | Pardubice/CZ | 13.6.2014
- Rotate Festival | Innsbruck/AT | 28.7.2012
- DDD – Die Dritte Dimension | WhiteBox, Munich/GER, 2011
- Hypno Vereinsbar | Interventionsraum, Stuttgart/DE | 24.2.2011
- Ars Electronica, Soft Bodies | Tabakfabrik, Linz/AT | 03.9.2010
Resonate in Response to
“Resonate in Response to” is a rethinking of space – in particular the acoustic properties of art spaces that form the basis for this sound installation. The acoustics of these rooms are analysed and evaluated to determine their predominant frequencies.
Additionally, the artist group FAXEN has produced a sound archive consisting of custom-made vinyl records (dubplates) that cover the frequency range of the human ear in the form of pure tone loops. A setup of three turntables and three site-specifically located speakers emphasises the acoustic ambiance of the spaces in an analogue way.
Based on the predominant frequencies and a selection of corresponding dubplates “Resonate in Response to” creates a composition that continuously generates subtle interferences between the natural soundscape and the replayed tones.
[su_accordion][su_spoiler title=“Deutsch“ open=“no“ style=“default“ icon=“plus“ anchor=““ class=““]Resonate in Response to ist ein Neubedenken von Räumen – physikalischen Räumen (als Rahmen von Kunst) und insbesondere deren akustische Eigenschaften und Qualitäten, welche den Ausgangspunkt für die Klanginstallation bilden. Ausgewählte Orte werden jeweils akustisch aufgezeichnet und analysiert. Die daraus gewonnen Parameter, dienen als Grundlage einer Komposition, welche regelmäßig Interferenzen zwischen der natürlichen Geräuschkulisse und den abgespielten Klängen generiert. Der Raum wird also mit sich sich selbst und seiner Umwelt in Frage gestellt. Zur Generierung der Interferenzen benutzt die Künstlergruppe FAXEN speziell angefertigte Schallplatten. Die einzelnen Frequenzen werden als Endlosrillen auf die Schallplatten geschnitten. Mit diesem Klangarchiv und in Verbindung mit den vier Plattenspielern ist es möglich den jeweils analysierten Raumklang analog nachzustellen.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Exhibitions
- Manifesta8, Eventos Paralelos | Sala de exposiciones Muralla Bizantina, Cartagena/ES | 12.11.2010 – 6.1.2011
- Antischall | Interventionsraum, Stuttgart/DE | 24. – 27.2.2011
- Keep An Ear On | EX3, Firenze/IT | 20. – 22.5.2011
- Resonate In Response To | Prima Kunst Container, Kiel/DE | 9.7. – 4.9.2011
- Resonate In Response To | bb15, Linz/AT | 18. – 22.10.2011
