An initiative of the
Breathless. A Documentary Film Project /
Vùng biên giới. A Theatre Project with Rimini Protokoll /
rádio d-cz. A Radio Art Project /
Vùng biên giới. A Theatre Project with Rimini Protokoll /
rádio d-cz. A Radio Art Project /
Sounds. Radio - Kunst - Neue Musik
13.02.2010 - 28.03.2010, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Berlin
Every medium has its own history and confuses the public it is addressing the moment it bursts onto the scene. Radio is a particularly incisive example for this phenomenon. As voices were broadcast across the airwaves for the first time, listeners were left awestruck, as if they were privy to an occult event: what was spoken could not be ascribed to a physical subject – are these messages from the netherworld? The fuss is not that old, dating back to the beginning of the 19th century. The fascination for this placelessness and incorporeality determined the early years of this medium, and it was made fruitful for art at a very early stage. From a contemporary perspective, exploring historical radio art can be a source of diverse inspiration: during the age of the historical avant-gardes, the arts formed a mutually enriching synthesis before their separation and specialization into individual disciplines set in during the 1930s. Radio was a place in which this interplay of the arts was attempted over and over. Today it seems that radio is a place where the interplay of the arts can once again be practiced, countering their separation and specialization. This approach is also directed against the long prevailing dominace of the word-centered radio play.
This was the starting point of the exhibition “Sounds. Radio – Art – New Music”, which ran from 13th February through to 28th March in the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.). In a host of older and newer works, the polyphony intrinsic to radio art was featured in its interaction with spatial art, acoustic art and events in public spaces. This approach allowed the visitor to experience radio tangibly, creating complex acoustic spaces the visitor could walk into. And similarly to the very first years of the medium, astonishment was evoked as to how complex these spaces can be.
Five radio works created as part of the German-Czech radio art project “rádio d-cz” were the centrepieces of the exhibition; authors, artists, radio dramatists, sound collectors and musicians set off on journeys of discovery into real life in Germany and the Czech Republic. Their radio features, plays and sound collages explore actual and fictive contemporary history: from adventurers and self-made men, separating fences and connecting sounds. These works were produced by Deutschlandradio Kultur, SWR, WDR and ÖRF in cooperation with Czech National Radio.
5x5 reference pieces to the radio works opened up a further level comprising 80 years of radio history and symbolised the elementary “force fields” of radio art that have fascinated writers and artists since the medium’s early days: the mobility, its puzzling play with the limits of public and private spaces, its art of creating fictional spaces with original sounds, its ability to sensitize us to the complex sound textures of an everyday sound environment, and the paradox of a “disembodied” medium that emphasizes the physical quality of the voice. These works were presented in excerpts. The exhibition’s archive section gave visitors an opportunity to listen to the full-length versions of these pieces, along with more than 100 radio art productions from the broadcasters involved in the show.
Ursula Block’s gallery gelbe MUSIK also showcased contemporary developments and the topicality of the panoply of different “sound spheres.” Throughout “Sounds” she presented her music shop and extensive archive on the history of New Music and acoustic art, including a special exhibition “Denkbare Partituren” (Conceivable Scores), as part of the 9th MaerzMusik – Festival für aktuelle Musik.
Works by the following artists could be heard in the exhibition:
Juan Allende-Blin, Susanne Amatosero, Andreas Ammer, Alfred Andersch, Beate Andres, Antonin Artaud, Ingeborg Bachmann, Walter Bauer, Samuel Beckett, Walter Benjamin, Barry Bermange, Andreas Bick, Friedrich Walter Bischoff, Ursula Block/gelbe MUSIK, Hermann Bohlen, Alessandro Bosetti, Alfred Braun, Peter Leonhard Braun, Bertolt Brecht, Klaus Buhlert, Frieder Butzmann, John Cage, Christian Calon, Velimir Chlebnikov, Carlfriedrich Claus, Console, Alvin Curran, Peter Cusack, Tacita Dean, Eduard Roderich Dietze, Esther Dischereit, Peter Dittmer, Alfred Döblin, Oswald Egger, Günter Eich, Barbara Eisenmann, William Faulkner, Raymond Federman, Luc Ferrari, Walter Filz, Hans Flesch, FM Einheit, Werner Fritsch, Tetsuo Furudate, Martin Gantenbein, Hartmut Geerken, Ulrich Gerhardt, Thomas Gerwin, Stefano Giannotti, Michael Glasmeier, Heiner Goebbels, Patricia Görg, Guido Graf, Kai Grehn, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Frank Halbig, Ludwig Harig, Hanna Hartman, Helene Hegemann, Elke Heinemann, Helmut Heißenbüttel, Niklaus Helbling, Paul Hindemith, Hofmann&Lindholm, Richard Hughes, Steffen Irlinger, Ernst Jandl, Elfriede Jelinek, Bernadette Johnson, Arsenije Jovanovic, Mauricio Kagel, Schorsch Kamerun, Dora Kaprálová, Hermann Kasack, Walter Kempowski, Oskar Kokoschka, Thomas Köner, Stephan Krass, Ferdinand Kriwet, Jean-Claude Kuner, Paul Laven, Michael Lentz, LIGNA, Bruno Maderna , Friederike Mayröcker, Sergej Medwedew, Jonathan Meese, Thomas Meinecke, Michaela Melián, Franz Mon, Herbert Morrison, Move D, Heiner Müller, Wolfgang Müller, Albert Ostermaier, Georges Perec, Eberhard Petschinka, Paul Plamper, René Pollesch, Werner Pöschko, Rimini Protokoll, Jon Rose, Dieter Roth, Joseph Roth/Helmut Peschina, Eduard Roderich, Gerhard Rühm, Walter Ruttmann, Rafael Sanchez, Eran Schaerf, Christoph Schlingensief, Ernst Schnabel, Ernst Schoen, Nadja Schöning, Kateřina Šedá, Theodor Siebs, Rolf Simmen, Walter Spies, Tim Staffel, Andrzej Stasiuk, Ronald Steckel, Ulrike Syha, George Tabori, Andrej Tarkowskij, Asmus Tietchens, Jáchym Topol, Naoya Uchimura, Anja Utler, Mario Verandi, Michel Vinaver, Miloš Vojtĕchovský, Wolf Vostell, Antje Vowinckel, Friedrich Walter, Stefan Weigl, Marianne Weil, Kurt Weill. Friedrich Wolf, Ror Wolf, Paul Wühr.
An exhibition catalogue is to be published in Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter König.
Conceptual team: Marius Babias, Gaby Hartel, Frank Kaspar, Katrin Klingan
Exhibition design: Ruudi Beier, Peter Wellach (id3d-berlin themengestaltung)
Project assistant: Silvia Ploner
“Sounds. Radio – Art – New Music” is an exhibition of the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein n.b.k. and Zipp – German-Czech Cultural Projects, an initiative of the Federal Cultural Foundation.
The exhibition and programme was possible by the generous support of: Stiftung Lotto. Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin
In cooperation with Deutschlandradio Kultur, the Südwestrundfunk, the Westdeutschen Rundfunk, the Österreichischen Rundfunk and Tschechischen Rundfunk.
With the friendly support of Bayerischer Rundfunk / Radio plays and media art.
Media partners: zitty Berlin; Deutschlandradio Kultur
Sponsor: beyerdynamic
Programme | Photos
Background Materials
Booklet (pdf)
on the exhibition: concept and programme
Miniposter (pdf)
for the exhibition and closing concert
Imprint / Print