Closed chambers of 1 sqm footprint stand in the middle of the urban space and invite you to listen. Extremely short sounds are extended to the maximum: the fractions of a second of a gunshot become 10 minutes of music. The surprise of a fist blow turns into a consoling elegy. The moment of an explosion becomes an orchestral state of Wagnerian proportions.
Comissioned by Arkadien-Festivals Ebersberg, curated by Peter Kees. The theme of the third edition “Brave New World” is a reference to Aldous Huxley’s novel of the same name, which sketches a dystopian future as it becomes more and more reality in the eyes of some.
Structures: rasso rottenfusser
The Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote:
“What, in the midst of the monastery building yard, reminds one a bit of spruced up voting booths from the outside, holds a “square meter of stopped time” in its respective interior. Artist Mathis Nitschke has built loudspeakers into the smooth white wooden walls, allowing those who make their way into these chambers some silence upon arrival before a sound envelops them out of nowhere. The quarter note of a sound stretches by the technology to a multiple of duration and an intangible of sound.
We can go wherever we want in our world: Nowhere else will we hear and feel, as we do in this confined, embracing space, how mutable the effect of sounds is when their context is wrenched from them. It’s exciting and evocative, especially as you feel anew and differently each time you visit. And the two-dimensional unit of measurement square meter expands quite quickly into a third dimension of space and a fourth dimension of time. One leaves the place of action with the desire for one’s very own, cherished sounds that extend into eternity. Whistling, one strolls home across the nightly pavement and dreams of Arcadia there.”
(translated by deepl.com)
