Sound sculpture made of 4 speaker chassis, PureData patch

The four loudspeakers, whose surrounds have crumbled due to the aging of the material, reappear in several senses or are presented in a new context, stripped of their actual functions. Visually they are more visible than ever before, as they stand naked in the room and are highlighted by light. Where there would otherwise be a flexible ring that connects the membrane tightly and yet movably to the cone, here there is a wide gap that exposes the inside of the loudspeaker and allows the membrane movements that would normally be undesirable. The loudspeaker chassis produce sounds that are based on the materiality of the membrane itself and not on the reproduction of injected sound waves. When they play vibrations in the range between 0 and 20Hz that cannot be perceived as pitch, they produce rhythmic sounds through the clicking of the descending cone. If a loudspeaker does what it is supposed to do, it is often built into a baffle, hidden behind a fabric, does not stand out acoustically due to its own noise and should, if possible, be replaced by models of the same design. Here the loudspeaker floats in the air at a clearly visible height, in an unusual horizontal orientation, attached to almost invisible fishing lines and its individuality cannot be replaced by other loudspeakers without changing the character of the work. For example, the clicking noise mentioned is different for each of the four chassis. Sine tones, which are modulated around a frequency of 0.55 Hertz (roughly the slowest tempo that humans still perceive as a rhythmic pulse, at which a direct relationship can be established between the successive beats), raise and lower the membrane and thereby create an unusual sight. The slow movement evokes associations with breathing or heartbeats. In addition, two further sine tones are played in the audible range, which are also constantly slightly modulated in amplitude and frequency in order to disguise the fact that the sound actually comes from the speakers. Two speakers play the frequency 281.6 Hz - nine octaves above 0.55 Hz (0.55 times 2 to the power of 9) - and the other two play 563.2 Hz, another octave above. In contrast to the slow movement of the membranes, which is unusually visual and attention-grabbing for loudspeakers, these high frequencies fill the room in a way that cannot be located. They also represent the permanent in contrast to the organic cyclical rhythms. The sound composition was implemented as a PureData patch, through which the constantly shifting rhythms are generated live and do not repeat themselves in a loop over the course of the exhibition.