02. 09. 2011
100000 m³ bewegte Luft

featured artist ars electronica 2011
 
Mariendom/ Linz (A)

8:54pm Installation, Part 1


11pm Performance, app. 60-90 minutes
afterwards: Installation, Part 2 until 5:13am

Symbolic space
Architectural space
Atmospheric space

St. Mary’s Cathedral in Linz is Austria’s largest church, a space with extreme dimensions and volumes. The title of Sam Auinger’s “sound installation with performative elements” that will run in this space from dusk to dawn refers to the volume of this piece of constructed cultural history. 100,000 m³ of moving air is the basis of this “model & experiential space. The highpoint: a performance by Technologies featuring David Moss (vocals), Sam Auinger (electronics) and Hannes Strobl (electric double bass), and cathedral organist Wolfgang Kreuzhuber.

The term ’psychotropy’ used in connection with architecture refers to the sensory perception of the atmospheric element of the constructed space. Ever since my initial encounter with St. Mary’s Cathedral, I’ve been fascinated by its atmosphere of colossal might, its architectural form and proportions, and its acoustic expressiveness. This structure, with its extraordinary architecture and size, is the manifestation of an idea that makes for unity and clarity in the way it is perceived with the senses. Gothic....symbolic.
In this space, we find ourselves in constructed cultural history, in a space with extreme proportions and volumes, a one-of-a-kind tonal space for any sound experience with its very own language
and color in the interplay of these physical interactions and conditions.
In such a place, in such a space, the basic atmospheric quality in the interplay of sound, light, materiality and architectural form can be experienced in a highly intensified way.
For me, this is a setting for models and experiences having to do with various aspects of the self and the community in the 21st century—and thus unrelated to the original purpose, significance, task and message for which this edifice was built.
With sound as its creative material, 100.000 m3 bewegte Luft utilizes this space as a particular setting in which to stage a work/performance that constitutes a functional investigation of the perception-modifying qualities of architecture, of constructed space.

(Translated from German by Mel Greenwald, text from the ars electronica flyer and catalog)