This concert installation and exhibition aims at triggering all five senses - sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing - letting you discover the intricate relationship
between wood and music; permanent versus ephemeral, observable versus imperceptible, tangible versus ethereal and physical versus abstract.
Considering synaesthesia as a sensory and transformational phenomenon it can be noticed that in certain conditions our senses are
paradoxically intertwined with one another. Thus, it feels as if we taste color, see music, smell touch or listen to space.
How do the objects, sounds and environments around us influence our perception of reality? What defines the transformation of a tree into a table… or a scent?
How does sound change in accordance with the vibrations of wood? At what point is noise perceived as rhythm and melody? As music?
Herewith, we are inviting you to celebrate the creative and artistic process behind 10 years of activity of the Voutchkova/Thieke Duo as well as the Rainer Spehl Studio (Art, Design & Crafts) in cooperation with the video artist Carlos Bustamante in a two-day long event that involves live performances, videos and installations.
Studio Rainer Spehl
Brunnenstrasse 152, 2. Hinterhof, 10115 Berlin
Saturday/Sunday, October 2/3, 17-22h
ABOUT THE MUSIC: Biliana & Michael
On the two consecutive days of the exhibition, we present a new work which further develops our concept of Blurred Music. It is a dialogue with pre-recorded
material from the studio environment, including sounds from Rainer's machines captured during his "realtime" working process. The 5 hour long event is
an overall composition which takes place in all the rooms of the studio. It encompasses live playing, sound and video installations, enabling the listeners
to parkour individually though the space, finding their own response to the symbiosis between all elements.
Our focus is on the materiality of wood: on the one hand in the wooden objects by Rainer Spehl, and on the other hand in the timbre of the sculptural
sound metamorphoses and surfaces of our music, produced on wooden instruments. The parallelism of the processes with the simultaneously
different materiality of the results served as a starting point for the development of the concept for MATERIALITY & SOUND.
Since 2015, we have been developing the concept of Blurred Music. It is a hybrid between composition and improvisation, where the music’s structure
creates a blur: improvised parts alternate with fields of pre-structured material in which tape-recordings of the duo are duplicated by the live performance.
Identical material thus sounds in live performance at the same time it sounds from playback, unavoidably giving rise to blur in the temporal dimension,
in the rhythmic, timbral, and motivic variations, in the microtonal interpretation of individual pitches. The live portion of the duplicated material
is still improvised, but in a framework restricted by the pre-recorded material being played back. For this event, the playback is composed
mostly from the sound material we recorded in the studio, and we developed live instrumental part which blends with it. BIG THANK YOU goes to
our partners Rainer and Carlos, and to Ulrike Karbjinsky and Elena Veronese who helped with the overall concept, the design and all logistics.
ABOUT THE VIDEO: Carlos
For most of my photographic works I have taken snaps of objects that are found in the spaces which surround us, but are not usually at the center of our attention: umbrellas, banana peels, wilted flowers, scraps of paper fluttering in space, discarded cigarettes, etc. Perhaps a reason that these objects became important to me
is that they are ever present in our surroundings and usually almost invisible. Within a collection of photographs of the same or similar objects they can suddenly
take on meanings or appearances beyond those originally intended.
For the Lightning and Dark Matter installation I have taken snippets of old videos and have made loops (much like those that Biliana and Michael use for their sound installations) which are played on so-called digital frames. They have been placed on the walls of the room apart from each other. For the common video usually one edits individual clips in a linear mode to create an emotion, tell a story, etc. The content of these clips is used to advance or delay a discourse. Their meaning is usually limited to a function within the given structure. And as spectators we sit passively. In order to “see” this installation one is forced to move around. The meaning, if there is one, can be constructed by the individual as he or she moves around the space. The installation is dedicated to Biliana and Michael, whose works and dear friendships have inspired and helped me “hear” sound. My thanks to them, to Rainer for making this installation possible, and to my friend Jörg Thur for constructing it.
ABOUT THE WOOD: Rainer
After my studies at the Royal College of Art in London I started to work as a furniture designer and developed my first products and furniture series,
acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods. Crucial here is the way the materials perform in use, as well as the
effect of their surfaces, but the perception of touch and it’s associative meaning are likewise important whether wood, leather, plastic, stone, or metal
is involved. At the same time, the dialogue of my work with it’s surroundings is also important to me. In parallel to the commissioned works, I have always
continued to pursue my own works, which I have presented at several exhibitions in Germany, Italy, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Japan.
The classically crafted objects combine practicality and workmanship, but with an artist’s eye to design, thus transforming everyday objects into objects of art.
In 2011 I was invited to the Californian mountains for a longer residency at the J.B. Blunk Foundation. There, I developed a free treatment of wood which opened
up new perspectives for my own sculptural idiom of forms. Starting from a conceptual and sensory understanding of materials, I enjoy developing objects
out of unusual shapes found in nature. As of now, Studio Rainer Spehl comprises designers and builders, e.g. Elena Veronese who is designing interior spaces
and furniture. For the current occasion, Rainer and Elena have jointly developed several one-off’s of round tables with marble stone plates called “Flavour”.
On the two consecutive days of the exhibition, we present a new work which further develops our concept of Blurred Music. It is a dialogue with pre-recorded
material from the studio environment, including sounds from Rainer's machines captured during his "realtime" working process. The 5 hour long event is
an overall composition which takes place in all the rooms of the studio. It encompasses live playing, sound and video installations, enabling the listeners
to parkour individually though the space, finding their own response to the symbiosis between all elements.
Our focus is on the materiality of wood: on the one hand in the wooden objects by Rainer Spehl, and on the other hand in the timbre of the sculptural
sound metamorphoses and surfaces of our music, produced on wooden instruments. The parallelism of the processes with the simultaneously
different materiality of the results served as a starting point for the development of the concept for MATERIALITY & SOUND.
Since 2015, we have been developing the concept of Blurred Music. It is a hybrid between composition and improvisation, where the music’s structure
creates a blur: improvised parts alternate with fields of pre-structured material in which tape-recordings of the duo are duplicated by the live performance.
Identical material thus sounds in live performance at the same time it sounds from playback, unavoidably giving rise to blur in the temporal dimension,
in the rhythmic, timbral, and motivic variations, in the microtonal interpretation of individual pitches. The live portion of the duplicated material
is still improvised, but in a framework restricted by the pre-recorded material being played back. For this event, the playback is composed
mostly from the sound material we recorded in the studio, and we developed live instrumental part which blends with it. BIG THANK YOU goes to
our partners Rainer and Carlos, and to Ulrike Karbjinsky and Elena Veronese who helped with the overall concept, the design and all logistics.
ABOUT THE VIDEO: Carlos
For most of my photographic works I have taken snaps of objects that are found in the spaces which surround us, but are not usually at the center of our attention: umbrellas, banana peels, wilted flowers, scraps of paper fluttering in space, discarded cigarettes, etc. Perhaps a reason that these objects became important to me
is that they are ever present in our surroundings and usually almost invisible. Within a collection of photographs of the same or similar objects they can suddenly
take on meanings or appearances beyond those originally intended.
For the Lightning and Dark Matter installation I have taken snippets of old videos and have made loops (much like those that Biliana and Michael use for their sound installations) which are played on so-called digital frames. They have been placed on the walls of the room apart from each other. For the common video usually one edits individual clips in a linear mode to create an emotion, tell a story, etc. The content of these clips is used to advance or delay a discourse. Their meaning is usually limited to a function within the given structure. And as spectators we sit passively. In order to “see” this installation one is forced to move around. The meaning, if there is one, can be constructed by the individual as he or she moves around the space. The installation is dedicated to Biliana and Michael, whose works and dear friendships have inspired and helped me “hear” sound. My thanks to them, to Rainer for making this installation possible, and to my friend Jörg Thur for constructing it.
ABOUT THE WOOD: Rainer
After my studies at the Royal College of Art in London I started to work as a furniture designer and developed my first products and furniture series,
acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods. Crucial here is the way the materials perform in use, as well as the
effect of their surfaces, but the perception of touch and it’s associative meaning are likewise important whether wood, leather, plastic, stone, or metal
is involved. At the same time, the dialogue of my work with it’s surroundings is also important to me. In parallel to the commissioned works, I have always
continued to pursue my own works, which I have presented at several exhibitions in Germany, Italy, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Japan.
The classically crafted objects combine practicality and workmanship, but with an artist’s eye to design, thus transforming everyday objects into objects of art.
In 2011 I was invited to the Californian mountains for a longer residency at the J.B. Blunk Foundation. There, I developed a free treatment of wood which opened
up new perspectives for my own sculptural idiom of forms. Starting from a conceptual and sensory understanding of materials, I enjoy developing objects
out of unusual shapes found in nature. As of now, Studio Rainer Spehl comprises designers and builders, e.g. Elena Veronese who is designing interior spaces
and furniture. For the current occasion, Rainer and Elena have jointly developed several one-off’s of round tables with marble stone plates called “Flavour”.
Graphic design by Elena Veronese
All photos by © Biliana Voutchkova
All photos by © Biliana Voutchkova
