About Silence

Speakers are commonly used to make something audible. In this piece I utilize specifically large models, which are customary for very loud bass sounds. However, here it is neither about volume nor level pressure. It is about the observer’s interpretation of silence and the visible form they assign to it in their imagination. The speakers reproduce low frequencies silent to our ears, their presence recognized only by the up and down movement of the speaker’s membrane. The resulting slow, and at times very slow, movements are the kinetic starting point of this piece. Piles of white down feathers are placed upon the speakers to trasmit movement. The amount of down feathers, sometimes enough to completely cover the speaker, as well as the used frequencies, vary. Slight differences in the tempo of the membranes’ pulses cause a silent and subtle action. Only by looking closely does it portray activity.

6 speakers on cubes (variable formation), white down feathers, cable, 6 frequency sythesizers

• Klangraum Flensburg, Museumsberg, Flensburg 2007

• Stille Stücke, Galerie 21, Braunschweig 2007

• Schlaf gut, Vögele Kulturstiftung, Pfäffikon/ Freibach, Schweiz 2019

• Feathers – warmth, seduction, flight/ Federn – wärmen, verführen, fliegen, Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur, Schweiz 2019/20

• Töne. Klänge. Objekte. Ulrich Eller, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig 2024/2025

Töne. Klänge. Objekte. Ulrich Eller, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig 2024/2025

Fotos: Marek Kruszewski