From the Seas Come the Canisters

A large number of canisters resonate noises. I fill the containers, differing in color, size and shape, which mostly serve to be filled with special materials, with sounds. By doing so, I turn them into sources of sounds. The expansion and arrangement of all canisters corresponds to a pile of material of about 20m² (expansion) and a maximum height of about 150cm. The sound sculpture can be walked on from all sides to be able to notice the movements of the rapidly changing sounds. The visual impact of the disorderly sounds is also acoustically noticeable, as a fixed number of canisters resonate somewhere in this quantity. The volume and audibility of the sculpture should correspond more to its visual extension and be perceived less as an acoustic radiation of the surroundings.

The sounds I have selected and created emphasize the resonance of the empty plastic containers. They are designed in a way that the sounds become what I wish for as an audible dimension in this audio-visual context through the object’s body of sound: a sound phenomenon that seems to authentically belong to the large number of different canister shapes and colors, even if this assessment does not correspond to any direct everyday experience.

The composition of the acoustic, which is determined by the actual appearance of the material, is composed in such a way that the sea, the water in various movements, the inside and outside of the floating canister, the friction sounds etc. resonate associatively. It is a theoretical noise, which describes the existence of the canisters in the sea and suggests a new and different approach to the purely optical appearance of these objects.

• Sonoric Atmospheres, Ostseebiennale der Klangkunst, Kunsthalle, Rostock 2004

200 plastic canisters of different sizes and colors, 12-channel composition; integrated speakers; electronical equipment.