Sound Art: Klang als Medium der Kunst
(2018)
author(s): Jan Nieuwenhuis
published in: Journal of Sonic Studies
On the 15th and 16th of December, 2012, the editors of the Journal of Sonic Studies visited the exhibition “Sound Art: Klang als medium der Kunst” in the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe. During and afterwards, they discussed the exhibition and four of its sound installations. This resulted in the variety of perspectives published in this article. The article is presented as a space through which the listener/reader/viewer must navigate. You enter a digital space – or a small exhibition – in which each editor reflects on the exhibition as a whole: Vincent Meelberg discusses sound art from the perspective of interactivity; Sharon Stewart presents four different approaches towards the installations, yet at the same time creates her own para-exhibition as recording-performer pursuing the fleeting nature of sound; Marcel Cobussen reflects upon the omnipresence of sound and the importance of listening; Jan Nieuwenhuis deconstructs the Dutch word “tentoonstelling” (“exhibition” in English) in order to rethink the visual paradigm of the museum and allow sound into its space.
After you have listened and read your way through the “entrance hall”, four different sound-spaces remain to be discovered. You can open the door and enter the room by clicking on the images of the sound installations. There, we – the editors – present our perspectives on the installations. Firstly (or lastly, if you prefer) Roberto Pugliese’s Equilibrium is grappled with; then Bernard Leitner’s Pulsierende Stille is absorbed; subsequently you can settle down in the Klangdom; and lastly (or firstly) listen in on Anselm Venezian Nehls’ and Tarik Barri’s #tweetspace.
