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  • Streaming + Download

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  • Installed Sound Works
    Cassette + Digital Album

    Clear C20 cassette tape with three Roomtone fieldrecordings of Usenbenz´s last sound Installations "Bells Breath", "Rauschen" and "Resonanz"

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Music For Video Art & Sound installations, telomer[e], Drawing In Sound, Plaqué, lärm/silence ansatz #23, Bells Breath, Installed Sound Works, Bells Breath (sleep version), and 19 more. , and , .

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about

“Bell’s Breath” transforms the tolling of the bells in the Ulm Minster into a work of sound art. This project by Andreas Usenbenz and Dorothee Köhl was created for the 125th anniversary of the minster spire's completion and was presented in the form of an audio installation inside the minster in the fall of 2015.
There are 13 bells in the bell tower, ten of which are in use. Each bell has its own size and pitch, and each has its own function.
“Bells Breath” strips away that function, creating a new form of auditory experience. The moment of the bell tolling has been recorded, the tone stretched and the individual tones are layered on top of each other. The sound installation was situated on the ground floor inside the minster, beneath the bell frame. A platform for people to step or sit on created a spacial frame of reference, the sound was triggered by the listeners by pressing a button.
When dealing with this work, it is helpful to have a brief look at Minimal Art. In the early 1960ies, a new understanding of art was being developed in contrast to abstract painting. Part of it was an abandonment of categories that had been considered essential until then, like the aesthetic experience or the artists signature style. Industrially produced materials were now being used, every day objects were stripped bare of their function. Experiencing art turned into an experience of self-awareness on behalf of the audience.
Sculptor Tony Smith was aware of the importance of this type of experience as early as the mid-fifties. He took his students on a nocturnal journey on the still uncompleted New Jersey Turnpike. Driving down the road lacking crash barriers and road markings didn't serve any functional purpose. Instead, the dark and the passing industrial complexes appeared in a different state of perception. It's this experience that Smith regarded as having an artistic quality.
This kind of quality can be described further using the “Mirrored Cubes” by Robert Morris. The installation consists of four mirrored cubes. They are positioned in a square, one edge length apart from each other, therefore eliminating the element of composition. The surface, as perceived by the audience, is only a reflection of the surroundings and of itself. Artwork and location become an inseparable one. What the audience experiences is an amplified perception of itself and of the spacial situation here and now.
The here and now are two elements that appear on different levels in “Bell's Breath”. The work strongly relates to the location, the tower hall right beneath the bell frame. At the same time, the sounds' original function is being eliminated by prolonging and layering the different sounds. This, together with the audience's presence in the space creates a new experience of perception.

Martin Leibinger (Translation by T.Brem)
credits

credits

from Installed Sound Works, released November 16, 2016
Roomtone Fieldrecordings inside the Cathedral of Ulm: Andreas Usenbenz

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Klanggold Munich, Germany

We started in 2006. Mostly our music is experimental in nature, which draws its influences from many genres. Sound art in general. Rather, we set ourselves the goal of releasing interesting music. This can also strike across the board and not be so catchy. That is exactly what defines an acoustic art work. You should give it time to develop. Discover new things in sound. That's what we stand for. ... more

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