Hanno Leichtmann: OSCILLAZIONI

Productive working relationships often arise from the craziest of coincidences. That was certainly the case when Hanno Leichtmann, one of the pioneers of electronic music in post-reunification Berlin, presented an exhibition titled *Low Noise Chronicle* at the Berlin art space *Die Möglichkeit einer Insel* almost exactly two years ago. Christina Kubisch, one of the most respected installation artists in the field of sound art since the 1970s, had made her way from Köpenick to Mitte—and made a surprise appearance at the opening.

“Das Gehörte und Gesehene,” a sound installation based on cassette recordings, must have made quite an impression. In any case, Hanno Leichtmann was quite astonished when, shortly thereafter, he received a large package containing valuable items: an entire collection of recorded compact cassettes from Christina Kubisch’s archive.

The recordings document her “Milan phase”—a period spanning from the early 1970s to the late 1980s—during which she collaborated with the Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi, studied electronics at the Politecnico di Milano, and, after a stint as a performance artist, began creating large-scale, multi-channel sound installations in both indoor and outdoor spaces starting in the 1980s.

The exhibition in the Kuppelsaal at silent green—which is not coincidentally titled Oscillazioni—now presents the results of an artistic exploration of Christina Kubisch’s work. Musician and sound artist Hanno Leichtmann thus continues a series of works for the Donaueschingen Music Festival, the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, Sasha Waltz & Guests, and the DAAD Artists-in-Residence Program in his characteristically unconventional manner.

On display in the exhibition space are A2-format drawings and sketches by Christina Kubisch arranged in a circle. They surround the physical forms of several objects with which Hanno Leichtmann has created the soundscape perceptible in the exhibition—the archive of historical Compact cassettes, an oscillator, and a four-track recorder.

The “Milan Phase” documented on the cassettes consists mainly of material for Kubisch’s site-specific installations: recordings of natural sounds and other field recordings, birdsong, sounds from instruments she played herself, and simple electronic devices. Using granular loopers and samplers, Hanno Leichtmann generated new sound material from these original tapes. In addition to the relevant tools from the world of musique concrète, he employed digital techniques such as re-pitching, stretching, re-synthesizing, spectral analysis, and other processing steps involving analog and digital audio effects.

The result is a loop approximately 60 minutes long—naturally set to repeat—which is presented as part of a four-channel audio installation. Each of these four channels is recorded in mono and transmits different sound information.

Depending on where visitors are located in the room, one sound source becomes more or less dominant and overlaps in different ways with the soundscapes of the other three channels. The sound mix is created as visitors walk through the space—through the very act of their individual movements within it. A Christina Kubisch Megamix.

Text: Christoph Gurk

Friday, July 31 & Saturday, August 1

silent green Kuppelhalle

2:00–8:00 p.m.

Free admission