// 29/01 – 06/02 ›
Nr4 › 18–22:00
// Opening 28/01 › 19:00
// Address: Adalberstr. 4 (balcony first floor, use external staircase Nr. 96)
// Admission: free
Seven Speakers is a listening environment for recorded music. It is a multichannel installation with seven speakers in a heptagonal arrangement, augmented by an array of plants. The project was initiated by Narrow Bridges (Alex Paulick & Min Stiller), with other artists contributing pieces created specially for the format.
With compositions by:
CFM [DE]
KANTE [DE]
KREIDLER [DE]
BACCHUS MARTEAU [FR]
MOCKY [CA]
BARBARA MORGENSTERN & DER CHOR DER KULTUREN DER WELT [DE]
NARROW BRIDGES [DE/UK]
MARCUS SCHMICKLER [DE]
PHILLIP SOLLMANN [DE]
Unlike the Dolby 7.1 Surround system designed for cinematic listening from a fixed position, Seven Speakers is conceived as a spatial musical experience, which comes to life as the listener moves throughout the room. The installation also ponders a botanical question: It is known that plants respond to music – but how does music respond to plants?
All of the artists involved have created or adapted pieces especially for the occasion, running from 15 to 45 minutes in duration: Kreidler present a sinister extended version of "Kremlin rules" from their forthcoming album
Tank. Parisian microtonal musician Bacchus Marteau has composed a series of sketches in extended Just Intonation, exploring the tonal possibilities of small intervals using ratio-based harmonies. Phillip Sollmann also works with alternate tunings in his hypnotic overtone-based drone "The Forbidden Chord". Kante's "Die Stunde zwischen Nacht und Morgen" is a collage combining pieces from the Hamburg band's last three albums with their recently commissioned music for theater – with lyrics by none other than Goethe. Barbara Morgenstern puts her capacity as co-director of the Chor der Kulturen der Welt to good use in "Optimistisch Ausgereizt", with the 35 members of the choir in constant motion during recording. Leipzig-based sound artist and composer CFM dives into a world of water droplets and underwater sound during her visit to a public swimming pool. The Canadian Berliner Mocky offers pristine surround mixes from his latest film soundtrack work. Marcus Schmickler delivers his breathtaking "Altars of Science" in all its psychoacoustic glory. Narrow Bridges' "Tide/Time" is another piece in Just Intonation, playing with the shifts in perception created by polyrhythms and word puzzles inspired by cybernetics pioneer Heinz von Foerster.
Nr4 is a new store and showroom featuring clothes and accessories by young designers from Europe and the US, most of whom have a background in industrial design and art, which is reflected in their unique use of crafts, materials and concept. The shop can be found on the first-floor balcony that crosses the street at Adalbertstrasse Nr. 4 (use the external staircase at Nr. 96). During CTM.11 the space will be transformed into a sonic greenhouse.
› sevenspeakers.info
› numberfour.org
