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Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 12:34:16 +0100
From: constantin <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Organization: sounds&files | www.k-haus.at
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: sounds&files > vienna k/haus exhibition

sounds&files_________________________________________________________________________________________________

k/haus, Wien, Ground Floor, March 10  April 16, 2000

Curators: Kollektiv SPK
Roland Schny, Constantin Peyfuss, Christof Kurzmann


Since the 90s electronic sounds have provided the background for
completely new perspectives in club culture and everyday design.
A sparkling spectrum of visual images in the areas of screen experiments

and internet projects accompanies the dynamics defined by
the musical avant-garde which has left distinct traces on fashion,
entertainment and graphic design.

Since current music is defined in sound files, computer hard drives and
virtual memory in networks are central locations where
images and sounds can be combined by similar programs as if they were
essentially the same. The vast possibilities of access to
highly complex digital facilities have not only re-ignited the vision of

producing culture and art democratically, but also sparked a
trend of loosening the borders between new compositional science,
improvisational music and the sub-cultural style of pop.

The exhibition sounds&files brings the rapid development to the point in

which PowerBooks and PCs have become the most
important instruments for generating electronic sounds. It examines the
new forms of expression which were created by conceptually
linking soundtrack and film material. At the same time the exhibition
questions the fields of popular culture for their specific
linguistic styles in which the input of electronic sounds has provided
considerable contributions since the beginning of the techno age
up to the freely structured styles of the present.

First came precursory music festivals in Vienna and other European
cities in which this genre was able to achieve undeniable
significance far beyond the reaches of just the predisposed scene, as
well as similar projects on the internet and most importantly the
international rise of Austrian labels whose productions receive regular
reviews in acclaimed technical magazines. Now a multitude of
snapshots takes a look at the patchwork of cultures which have been and
still are being generated around the term "electronic".

The starting point of this exhibition project is the enormous potential
of the domestic music scene and their
self-confident links with design, architecture and art. The
cornerstones, however, are provided by internationally renowned musical
artists as well as by illustrious production groups which, due to their
positioning at other economic centers like England, have
succeeded in ingeniously combining a highly commercial advertising
language with subversive symbolism.

The visual aesthetic of current electronic music is mirrored by the
exhibition sounds&files accompanied by a scenery of
changing sounds. In the light of these optical-acoustic presentations,
the limits between sub-cultural attitudes and mass-cultural
currents are to be reassessed.

Video and CD-ROM projections only hint to the enormous treasures of
visual material which is generated together with the
sound production on the computer in the field of electronic music as the

borders between simple sound and image processing are
becoming more and more fragmented. A narrative sequence of quotes are as

much of importance as abstract, virtually generated,
psychedelic images in the ambient field or collages of dadaesque image
sequences.

Numerous labels of electronic music have created a unique design which
has long surpassed the initial references to the
techno and industrial culture and spawned corporate identities in the
micro-cosmos of avant-garde musical currents. Minimalist or
flashy explosive typography, computer generated worlds and experimental
use of image processing software contribute to the most
diverse ways of presentation ranging from extreme austerity to visual
overflow.

A look at the technical equipment from the very first tube synthesizers
produced in a trial-and-error manner to the array of
programming languages downloadable from the internet with their specific

visualization formats constitute yet another significant
aspect of sounds&files. Because of the ongoing redevelopment and
advances of digital production techniques, the musical
recording procedures and listening behavior are subject to permanent
redefinition. Significant electronic musical instruments and
documentary material from the early ages of electronic acoustics will be

shown in the form of partial flashbacks.

A production studio at the center of the exhibition is intended to
visualize the generation and the combination of
compositional work and live improvisation with electronic sounds under
the competent guidance of musicians and theoreticians.

At last, a peek into the do-it-yourself world of home studios rounds off

the spectrum of the exhibition sounds&files; home
studios were chosen because they are indispensable in todays music
scene but they also resemble primitive home assembly kits
compared to the technical possibilities of the 21st century.

Overall, sounds&files offers the opportunity to experience electronic
music of the present and its cultural fields in the form of
video and CD-ROM projections, photo documentaries and installations
combined with a review on important historical instruments
and a vanguard studio situation.

This exhibit on Hearing and Seeing intends to be a project in motion
whose character will keep changing continuously, inviting
people to stay and come again. A veritable flood of flyers and numerous
related magazines will be distributed and a shop with an
appropriate assortment of sound recordings, books, goodies and gadgets
is also an essential part of sounds&files.

Parallel to the exhibition a corresponding sounds&files-homepage will be

created to continuously make new information, text
material and links on this topic available to everybody. Throughout the
exhibition period, sounds will be available in MP3
format to establish proper links to the exterior.



sounds&files
Press conference March 9th, 2000, 10 a.m. (ground floor, k/haus)
Opening March 9th, 2000, 7 p.m.

Exhibition run March 10th through April 16th, 2000

Location k/haus, Karlsplatz 5, A-1010 Wien
Opening hours daily 10 a.m.  6 p.m.
Thu 10 a.m.  9 p.m.
Exhibition Curators Kollektiv SPK
Roland Schny, Constantin Peyfuss,Christof Kurzmann
Project Leader Ulrike Tschabitzer
Exhibition Organisation Andreas Oberkanins
Press Claudia Kaiser
Press Office k/haus
Tel 0043 - 1- 587 96 63-21 Fax: 0043 - 1- 587 87 36
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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