Timo Kahlen. Sound sculptures and installations (page 1 of  2)

Nominated for the German national Sound Art Prize 2006

  




Timo Kahlen. SWARM, 2008

8-channel sound sculpture
at Fortezza / Franzensfeste fortress:
steel construction (800 x 100 x 100 cm),
enclosing the sound and vibration of bees


Courtesy MANIFESTA 7 "Scenarios" / Italy


For Manifesta 7 “Scenarios” at Fortezza,
Timo Kahlen blocks the central courtyard accessing
the 19th century military fortress with a carefully positioned,
powerful sound sculpture. The abstract steel sculpture
- elevated slightly from the ground, as if floating -  encloses the
meandering, menacing sound of a swarm of bees.
Initially a calm buzzing, the transient, carefully manipulated
sounds become increasingly agitated, nervous and defensive
as the viewer proceeds on his way into the fortress. As if
striking out at the visitor, the harsh sounds are accompanied by
a strong vibration of the plated, steel ‘beehive’
defending its territory - only later to repose to a soft
and tranquile hum.

“Few works in Fortezza have a physical presence,
but SWARM is just the opposite. On the outside, it is a large,
aggressive, steel box that echoes its military surroundings.
On the inside, it houses the sound of an elusive swarm of bees,
at times stirring angrily, at other times scarcely perceptible;
a fresh interpretation of conflict and warfare.”

Aoife Rosenmeyer: “Manifesta 7: Eight Artists Not To Miss”, Art World, Issue 7, 2008






   


Timo Kahlen
Tanz für Insekten (Dance for Insects), 2010

Dead insects (objets trouvés) shivering, shuffling
and floating on the membranes of two loudspeakers.
Low frequency sound, vibration and random movement
of the insects, that seem to be more alive than dead,
dancing and jittering on the speakers' membranes
as their chitinous shells create a percussive clicking noise


Kinetic sound sculpture at "Sound Art. Sound as a Medium of Art", ZKM Karlsruhe 2012,
"The Unknown: Poznan Biennale", Poland 2012, "Timo Kahlen: Windwechsel", Luftmuseum Amberg 2010,
"Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty", Stiftung Starke Berlin 2010, "Timo Kahlen: Katharsis", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2017

Timo Kahlen. Drama, 2011
Chance-generated flash film interactive loop (0'13")


A virtual reanimation of an insect,
lying on its back. A miniature drama,
an emotional visual metaphor  - the individual's struggle
at the borderline of life and death -
with various and chance-generated outcomes,
generated - always different - by the viewer,
as he plays the film again ... and again.


Without sound.
Supported by a scholarship of Stiftung Kunstfonds, Germany 2010.
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/drama.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished
from the internet. They became invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, this interactive work of net art was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/drama/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.

Timo Kahlen. Eins (One), 2005
ca. 24 x 40 x 38 cm
From a series of sensual, softly purring, vibrating
sound sculptures (made of artificial fur, feathers,
enclosed loudspeakers and sound)

"Timo Kahlen: Media Dirt", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2005 and
"Sound Art: Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis 2006" exhibition
at Traumzeit-Festival Duisburg 2007; "SoundObjects",
La Nau University Valencia 2008 and Goethe-Institut Milano 2008





    



Timo Kahlen. Zwei (Two), 2020

A new series of 'haptic', vibrating sound sculptures.
Made of artificial fur, speakers and sound.
Created with the support of Stiftung Kulturwerk
der VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020.

First exhibited and published at "Timo Kahlen: Immaterials 1986-2022", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2022

  


Timo Kahlen. Media Dirt (Kiasma, 2004)
Sound sculpture at the National Museum of
Contemporary Art (Kiasma)
in Helsinki / Finland

Three glass cylinders, several loudspeakers and
the sound of interfering radio waves :
" temporary, immaterial noise and beauty
found in between radio stations ...
creating a complex, artificial, purely technological,
yet seemingly 'natural' (sometimes insect or bird-like)
soundscape. In this way, the glass cylinders
become the laboratory for a re-construction,
a new abstract form of nature."
(Werner Ennokeit)

Sound sculpture exhibited at the International Symposion on Electronic Arts ISEA 2004








Timo Kahlen. Luft (Air), 2015
Multi-channel, chance-generated sound installation
with directional speakers

The manipulated multi-channel sound
of swarming insects and bees, oddly resembling the
mechanical, propelling hum of consumer and military drones,
meanders through the exhibition space: floating
in mid-air a few inches above the ground, reflecting
from the floor beneath our feet, propelling around
the visitor's ankles and knees at random intervals.
The exhibition space of the Ruine der Kuenste Berlin
is filled with subtle hums and whirs.

Installation view at "Timo Kahlen: Doppelter Boden",
Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2015









Timo Kahlen. Tautologischer Raum
(Tautological Space), 1990 / 2015
Kinetic sound installation

The factual wind of a rotating electrical fan
directs a single loudspeaker
suspended from the ceiling to rotate slowly
and as if by chance, changing its speed and direction in mid-air;
thereby projecting the (likewise artificial) sound of wind
emitted by the speaker
to move across, to meander, to slide and to rotate
along the gallery's walls.


Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin 1990; re-installed at FRISE Hamburg 2015

Timo Kahlen. Dislocation,
Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2008

The work, enclosing
low noise and rumble,
blocks the passage to the gallery space
with an oversized metal case
(60 x 320 x 70 cm) forced into
the entrance of the building


"Timo Kahlen: Trespassing", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2008











Timo Kahlen. Rohschnitt (Rough Cut), 2016
Interactive net art

Interactive projection with multiple layers
of embedded sound. Touch and investigate objects
with the cursor, click at or pause to generate
your individual, interactive composition of raw sound.
Take your time !

Initially a virtual, hybrid, rough cut model tailored for
the "Hörschwelle" sound art exhibition in the project space
at Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin 2016.

The sounds embedded in the room
represent sounds recorded when constructing the model
from scratch, from cardboard and paper, and when reworking
the model on the computer: raw, rough sounds of drawing,
cutting, creasing, folding, ripping, copying, pasting
and reediting; acoustic fragments of 'work in progress'.


Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/rohschnitt.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished
from the internet. They became invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, this interactive work of net art was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/rohschnitt/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.


Short-listed for "Schloss-Post" web residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Germany 2016.
Created for Deutscher Kuenstlerbund, Berlin 2016.
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe






     


Timo Kahlen. in trockenen Tüchern (Wrapped), 2019


A resonant, calm purring sound fills several bundles of cloth,
making the objects seem to repose, to breathe and rest at ease.
The soothing sounds drift slowly from object to object
- yet, are interrupted at intervals by sudden motion,
by whirs and buzzing hums of small insects, that seem to propel
from one object to the other, to circle above, or reluctantly settle down
on one of the museum pedestals - restoring the calm wrap.


Museum pedestals, bundles of cloth, speakers, cables.
Multi-channel sound installation at "Timo Kahlen: aus der Luft gegriffen / in trockenen Tüchern",
Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020. Free download of catalogue (PDF / 4.9 MB).
English / German. 28 pages / 34 images. Edition Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020








Installation views "Timo Kahlen: aus der Luft gegriffen / in trockenen Tüchern",
Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020









Timo Kahlen. Transparenz, 2019

Site-specific multi-channel sound installation for Galerie Nord, Berlin 2020
The meandering, frustrated sound of several small insects
hitting the five transparent windowpanes of the gallery space,
at the intersection of culturally refined 'white cube' and public space.
The resolute buzzing and intense sonic vibration against the glass
pops up at random, here and there - startling visitors.

"Back there", Galerie Nord, Berlin 2019. Curated by Ulrike Riebel and Christopher Weickenmeier





  

  


Timo Kahlen. in flight (Flugobjekt), 2022

Installation view of (diagonal) whirring sound sculpture 'in flight' (2022),
vibrating, pulsing (ovoid) fur sound sculptures from the 'Two' series (2020)
and two multi-layered photographic images from the 'Isolation (Carte Blanche)'
series (2022) at the Ruine der Künste Berlin


"Timo Kahlen: Immaterials 1986-2022" solo exhibition at Ruine der Künste Berlin









Timo Kahlen
Volumen (Volume), 2015

Multi-channel sound installation
Wooden construction (ca. 880 x 192 x 75 cm),
transducers, speakers and low frequency vibration

The vibrating volume of the wooden structure
emits multiple, complex, humming and droning,
percussive waves of air that fill the entire room
with sound: propelling above and around the object
like a drone.

Installation view at Timo Kahlen: "Doppelter Boden",
Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2015

Timo Kahlen / Berlin and Ian Andrews / Sydney.
Sound Drift, 2005.
A series of interactive, generative sound spaces
containing drifting 'clouds' filled with radio noise:
visual, kinetic and tangible clusters of sound.
A concept for an immaterial exhibition
consisting of audio clusters slowly drifting
from one gallery space to the next
at the Ruine der Kuenste Berlin.

Click into the kinetic 'clouds' to move from one room to the next.
The interactive buttons will behave in various ways
(some will have to be clicked two or three times).
Please, adjust the volume of your headphones or speakers.

The original work was published at www.staubrauschen.de/sounddrift in 2005.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished
from the internet. They have become invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, 'Sound Drift' was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/sounddrift/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.
Collections of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
and Akademie der Künste, Berlin.




.            


Timo Kahlen. Concepts for 'Sound Drift', 2005. In collaboration with Ian Andrews / Sydney.
Courtesy Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2005

Timo Kahlen. Bits, 2010

Percussive, pulsing, crackling sounds
project from sculptural loudspeakers at 3,50 m height,
echoing from the walls. Their tripods surround
a fragile Venetian glass chandelier
suspended in the exhibition space.

Multi-channel sound installation for "Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty", Stiftung Starke, Berlin 2010.
From a series of synaesthetical "Earcatchers", sound installations realized as part of the
scholarship by Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn 2010

Timo Kahlen. Bags of Bees (Venice, 2009)

Paper bags enclosing the meandering
sound and vibration of a swarm of bees

Installed at "Naturas Naturans", Casello delle Polveri, Venezia 2009,
"La Révolte des Choses" at MIM & more Gallery, Berlin 2012
"Aural Lighthouses" at Santozeum, Santorini / Greece 2015
"Flügelschlag. Insekten in der Zeitgenössischen Kunst"
at Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg 2019 and
"Kemnade klingt! Sounding Bochum" Sound Art Festival, Kunstverein Bochum 2022

Timo Kahlen. BEWARE !, 2010

Generative, multi-channel sound installation
based on the sound of fierce dogs:
ferociously, madly barking at the passer-by,
as the sound and perceptible vibration
of the steel object follows the viewer‘s movements
with (invisible, hidden) motion sensors

Proposal for Metamatic Research Initiative, Amsterdam 2010

Timo Kahlen. Small Turbulence
(Proposal for an immaterial sculpture)
made of steam, 1991 / 1999


Steam from the streets, kept in movement by cars.
"Timo Kahlen’s work is characterized by a subtle
perception of the natural and the technical world.
In his video Small Turbulence (Proposal for an immaterial
sculpture, 1991/1999), Timo Kahlen takes the role of a
discoverer in a world, where there’s nothing left to discover,
simply because everything has seemingly been analysed
and explained. Nonetheless, what seems common, everyday,
like the steam coming from a sewage pipe in the busy streets
of New York, can be seen as a singular, phenomenal event
and truly become an ephemeral, immaterial sculpture.
Always, Kahlen tries to investigate and to understand
phenomena at their blurry edges: just before, in between,
besides and after the actual event." (Dr. Jule Reuter, Berlin 2001)

Kahlen's proposal for an immaterial sculpture made of steam
was nominated for the "Kahnweiler-Prize for Sculpture" 2001
in Rockenhausen, Germany


Video loop, sound. Latest screening at "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018",
seventeen video works at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018

Timo Kahlen. Audio Dust, 2011
Interactive sound art / net art

‘Audio Dust’ is about the beauty of noise.
An earcatching virtual object, a sculptural cluster of sound.
It is based on the image of a round object made of
artificial fur, a soft, tactile part of a microphone
(generally used to protect the microphone from wind
in the recording process). Fragments of noise & beauty seem
to have attached to the fur. In several aspects, “Audio Dust“
is a psycho-acoustical trap for the senses, tempting the viewer
to virtually stroke the warm, soft, ‘purring‘, abstract,
round object enclosing layers of sound. With references
to the Futurist ‘intonarumori‘ and to Pierre Schaeffer‘s
‘musique concrete‘, generating the composition of sound
and vibration with the cursor (activating sounds as the mouse
rolls over or clicks hidden, static and moving interfaces)
the work generates a complex synaesthetical experience.

The interactive work develops individually,
is generated - always different - as the viewer moves across,
pauses or clicks at the responsive texture of the sound objects.
Roll over & click to generate the audio work at your own pace.
For headphones or speakers.





Courtesy / Foto: Steffen Harms, © ZKM Karlsruhe
Supported by a scholarship of Stiftung Kunstfonds, Germany 2010.
Collections of Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell University / USA,
the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe and the artist.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/audiodust in 2011.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished from the internet.
They became invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, this interactive work of net art was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/audiodust/

Part of the exhibition "Sound Art. Sound as a Medium of Art", ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe 2012.
As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.

Timo Kahlen. Signal-To-Noise, 2011
Interactive sound art / net art

‘Signal-To-Noise', 2011, relates to the history of
recording media, to the Vinyl LP. An analog object, covered
with scratches, with dirt and sound is seen rotating in space.
The interactive sound object 'Signal-To-Noise' relates the
unintentional mistake, the deviation from the technical norm,
to the artist‘s process of recording and playing back acoustic
signals. What can be heard, as the viewer generates
multiple layers of sound from invisible interfaces
hidden beneath the flash projection of the scratched and
ruptured rotating surface, is a grinding, dirty, dusty static noise,
which leaves little room for the desired acoustic signal itself.
The unbalanced signal-to-noise-ratio of what is desired and
what is recorded, is the works main principle of design.

The interactive work develops individually,
is generated - always different - as the viewer moves across,
pauses or clicks at the responsive texture of the sound objects.
Roll over & click to generate the audio work at your own pace.
For headphones or speakers.

Supported by a scholarship of Stiftung Kunstfonds, Germany 2010.
Collections of Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell University / USA,
the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe and the artist.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/signal in 2011.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished
from the internet. They became invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, this interactive work of net art was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/signal/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.












Timo Kahlen. Undo / Delete, 2011
Interactive sound art / net art

In 'Undo / Delete', 2011, the viewer's cursor meanders
across a white void, an empty page. His movements generate
minimal visual marks and acoustic incidents, that seem to avoid /
to flee the presence of the cursor - as can be inferred from
the sound of ripping, crumbling, revising, tearing
and deleting of information hidden on the blank page.

The interactive sound art / net art work develops individually,
is generated - always different - as the viewer moves across, pauses
or clicks at the responsive texture of the sound objects.
Roll over & click to generate the audio work at your own pace.
For headphones or speakers.


Supported by a scholarship of Stiftung Kunstfonds, Germany 2010.
Collections of Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell University / USA,
the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
and the artist.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/delete.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished
from the internet. They have become invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, all twenty-one of Kahlen's interactive works of net art (including 'Undo / Delete')
have been revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the originals - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/

and

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/delete/


As an alternative: watch the video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551
Please, turn on your speakers.

Timo Kahlen
Control, 2015
('The Wackelpudding Series')


A fragile acoustic and visual balance:
a plate with green jelly held, directed and
balanced in mid-air, as the artist takes control
of this green, quivering mass that seems
to have a life (and a sound) of its own.


"Experiments in Cinema", Albuquerque, New Mexico / USA 2016
Wolf Kahlen Intermedia Arts Museum, Bernau 2016
"60 Seconds Festival", Copenhagen / Denmark 2018
and "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018"
seventeen video works installed at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018

Timo Kahlen. Numbers, 2011 or 2013
Interactive net art / sound art


Thank God! At least, in the midst of all the
financial crisis and accelerating digital change,
it’s numbers that we can rely on, numbers that
will be safe and sound.

See Timo Kahlen’s small new interactive
sound + net art work 'Numbers' at
http://www.staubrauschen.de/numbers/

Created in 2011, or 2013. Possibly.


Click & roll over to generate the interactive work.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/numbers.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished
from the internet. They have become invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, 'Numbers' was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/numbers/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.







   

  

  
Timo Kahlen. Netzwerke (Networks), 2010 - 2019

The 'Networks' series of media sculptures is
woven from electric wires, from data, computer and audio cables, and plugs.
The nest-shaped structures refer to the complexity of networked systems,
carrying immense amounts of information, hidden and overt data,
vision and sound. They are conceptual media sculptures, reflecting
the global networks’ function as a source of new creation
- as exemplified by their distinct shape, resembling a bird’s nest -,
and take reference (on a more personal note) to the media artist’s
constant entanglement in, and dependency on, all sorts of media interfaces,
on cables, plugs, and connectivity.


Also see earlier kinetic and static installations related to Kahlen's "Works with Wind",
many of which employ birds' nests, such as "To Brancusi" (1991),
"Wehen" (1990) etc. Solid bronze casts of birds' nests
were part of Kahlen's final presentations at the Hochschule der Kuenste
(now: University of the Arts) in Berlin in 1992 and 1993.

The "Networks" series (2010 - 2019) of nest-shaped media sculptures
woven from electric wires, computer and audio cables, and plugs, was presented at
"Timo Kahlen: FLUID", Ruine der Künste Berlin 2019, at the Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft, University of the Arts, Berlin 2019
and at "Timo Kahlen: aus der Luft gegriffen / in trockenen Tüchern", Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020.

Free download of catalogue (PDF / 4.9 MB). English / German.
28 pages / 34 images. Edition Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020





 


Timo Kahlen. plug / play, 2016

Conceptual drawing reflecting
the (media) artist's entanglement / dependancy on
cables, plugs and connectors

Installed at Deutscher Kuenstlerbund
"Hoerschwelle" sound art exhibition, Berlin 2016.
The related "Networks" series (2010 - 2019) of nest-shaped media sculptures
woven from electric wires, computer and audio cables, and plugs, was presented at
"Timo Kahlen: FLUID", Ruine der Künste Berlin 2019








Timo Kahlen. stop, 2016

Enlarges a miniature conceptual sketch
(from my 1991 sketchbooks)
to a maximum size

Installed in the gallery storefront windows
at the Deutscher Kuenstlerbund project space for the
"Hoerschwelle" sound art exhibition, Berlin 2016.
Chalk drawing, ca. 274 x 300 cm








Timo Kahlen
Räuspern, 2014


A minimalistic, yet highly evocative sound sculpture:
the sound of a speaker (the artist) clearing his throat,
trying to catch attention and testing the 'microphone',
which is in fact a small loudspeaker, replacing the
original microphone on a microphone stand.
A yet inarticulate voice, testing its presence - a 'testing ground'
in the middle of the room, in front of the audience.

Microphone stand, miniature loudspeaker and mono sound.
"Timo Kahlen: Katharsis", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2017











Timo Kahlen. The Essence of Art, 2016
Interactive text and sound / net art

The essence of art is to make mistakes.
Trust me, I'm an artist

As you explore the handwritten text,
touch and investigate objects with the cursor,
click at, roll-over or pause to generate
your individual and interactive composition
of raw sound. The live composition is generated
from multiple layers of embedded sound,
in real-time, always different and new. Take your time.


The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/mistakes.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished from the internet.
They have become invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, this interactive work of net art was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/mistakes/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.

"handschreiben", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, Berlin 2016
"Experiments in Cinema", Albuquerque, New Mexico / USA 2017
"Sound Thought", CCA Glasgow / Scotland 2017
Webbiennial, Istanbul / Turkey 2020
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe

Timo Kahlen. From Scratch, 2011
Interactive sound art / net art

‘From Scratch’, an homage to the fragility
and transience of all life, presents the ephemeral surface
of thin ice. As if walking on a brittle, fragile surface,
the viewer encounters splintering, slushing, cascading
sequences of sound, as he moves the cursor and mouse
across the interactive surface at his own, individual pace.
Thus, the work develops individually, is generated as the
viewer moves across, pauses or clicks at the
responsive texture of the sound object.


Roll over & click to generate the audio work
at your own pace. For headphones or speakers.

Supported by a scholarship of Stiftung Kunstfonds, Germany 2010.
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/fromscratch.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished from the internet.
They have become invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, this interactive work of net art was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/fromscratch/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.
Turn on your speakers.











Timo Kahlen. Diodenzwitschern, 2006

Site-specific sound installation, proposal for
the German national Sound Art Prize 2006
(Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis), based on the
amazing utterances of a nightingale recorded on site.
Four channel audio composition

Four sculptural, ring-shaped speaker elements
to be installed encircling the stems and branches of trees
in close proximity to the Skulpturenmuseum in Marl.
Intimate sounds, based on the utterances of a nightingale
recorded directly on site, permutate from speaker to speaker,
from tree to tree. The song of the nightingale - a bird known
for its amazing ability to imitate complex sounds of its
immediate environment - has been disected, reorganized
and carefully reshaped, creating a soundscape that seems
synthetical and mechanical, yet strangely represents and refers
to its natural origin. Presented to the jury of the
German national "Sound Art Prize" as an interactive model
at www.timo-kahlen.de/dioden.


The original work was online at www.staubrauschen.de/dioden from 2006-2020.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 all of Timo Kahlen's works of net art vanished from the internet.
They have become invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, this interactive work of net art was revived: recoded and made visible, audible and tangible once again
- with some glitches and drop-outs, and a bit of sonic tumult and difference to the original - in 2023.
See "Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art" by Timo Kahlen 2005-2020 at www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play/dioden/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.
Turn on your speakers.

Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.

Timo Kahlen. Leerraum (Void), 1995.
Sound and light installation at the
Ruine der Künste Berlin.

An empty house, filtered windows panes.
Twittering, pulsing, singing sounds of interfering radio
shortwaves and synthesized fragments of birds' songs,
emitted from invisible loudspeakers beneath the floor,
meander across the walls.

The sounds used in a number of
Timo Kahlen's sound sculptures and
installations are based on the artist's
archive of nomadic, ephemeral, interfering radio waves,
'static noise and beauty' recorded
inbetween radio stations since 1987.

In the sound and light installation 'Leerraum'
the interfering radio waves create a complex, artificial,
purely technological, but at the same time strangely
'natural', insect- or birdlike soundscape ... enhanced by
birds' voices and filtered (green) views from the windows
into the garden

"Die Vogelstimmen sind eine Nuance zu deutlich, die Folien an den Fenstern eine Spur zu grün.
Darum begreift man schnell, daß die Nähe zur Natur gemeint ist, nicht aber nachgeahmt werden soll.
Der Raum flirrt, fängt so die Aufmerksamkeit des Besuchers. Ähnlich wie in der Natur folgt man
den an- und abschwellenden Geräuschen mit suchendem Blick, versucht vergebens,
die Lautsprecher dingfest zu machen, begegnet dabei dem durch das einfallende Licht
gezauberten komplementären Rot an den Wänden und wird allmählich Teil des leeren Raumes."
Hanna Lentz, Berlin 1995

"Timo Kahlen: Leerraum", Ruine der Künste Berlin 1995

Timo Kahlen. Simile, 2006
Rubber boots (Wellingtons) suspended in metal frames,
nine small loudspeakers, nine channel sound composition
imitating birds' voices and other mimetical,
only seemingly 'natural' sounds

Exhibited at "Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis 2006", Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl
and "Sound Art 2006: Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis", art cologne 2006

          
Timo Kahlen. Your Journey. Orvieto / Italy 2009

Two loudspeakers propped against
the vertical plane of the wall project the sound of
two feet crunching, grinding their way
through deep snow :
slowing down, taking up speed as the brittle snow
offers varying resistance to the progression
of the artist's movement. Visitors approached
the sound work on a road filled with gravel:
creating their own sounds on their way.
Installed at 38° C in the shade
for Atelier Aperti, Orvieto (Italy) in 2009.

Courtesy studio of Susanne Kessler / Atelier Aperti, Orvieto 2009

Timo Kahlen. Bits & Pieces, 2011
4'08", stereo
For radio transmission at
The Radius, Chicago

Bits & Pieces (2011) lures us into an earcatching,
evocative sonic terrain - and can be seen as an acoustic
metaphor of current political, conceptual and economic crisis
and instability. At first impression nothing more than
the haphazard accumulation of static noise, dirt
and interference on the listener's radio, the radiophonic work
"Bits & Pieces" soon turns out to be the precise acoustic image
of a protagonist's footsteps on a brittle, fragile,
inconsistent surface: literally and conceptually walking
on 'breaking ground', audibly de-constructing,
re-evaluating, breaking down, revising and editing
his concept of the world.

Focussing on the destructive process of creating 'progress',
this conceptual work was made especially for local radio transmission
on The Radius, Chicago (December 2011).
Re-broadcast as part of the 57min new sound work "Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty. An Archive of Radio Noise 1989 - 2019".
Radius Sketchpad on WGXC Wave Farm radio arts transmission, Acra / New York 2019

Timo Kahlen. Breaking Ground, 2009


Ruptured, crooked, uneven natural stone
floor of studio space at Orvieto (Italy).
Bits and pieces of  fragmented, dirty,ruptured sounds meander
from speaker to speaker, anticipating and directing
the visitor's movements across the floor

Multi-channel, site-specific work for Atelier Aperti, Orvieto 2009. Courtesy of
Susanne Kessler. A variation of "Breaking Ground" was presented at
"Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty", Stiftung Starke, Berlin 2010

   


Timo Kahlen. (LOCATING), 2010

A pair of rubber boots carefully positioned
in the gallery space. Electrical cables fill the resonant
volumes with sound : pulsing, crackling, hissing,
grinding noise bounces back and forth
inside and from within the two rubber boots.
One foot set slightly forward, the rubber boots seem
ready to meander, to move on ... - yet they remain static,
immobile, caught in situ : forming a subtle and vibrating 'still life',
an acoustic miniature of two objects taking on personality.
Ascertaining, locating and repositioning their existence
in a changing and mobile society.

First installed at "Media Scapes", Zagreb 2010
curated by Heiko Daxl & Ingeborg Fülepp

Timo Kahlen. FIRE !, 2008

Abandoned suitcase(s), filled with
the sound and vibration of fire.
The objects stand isolated, abandoned in
the exhibition space.

“Timo Kahlen’s works are characterized by
a rigorous formal reduction and clarity.
Kahlen creates works, which have been purged of
all unnecessary elements, which have been reduced
to their essential core. While at first impression his works
often assume (or even feign) a narrative, playful lightness
- allowing references to familiar, everyday experiences
and situations -, the formal and conceptual contrasts and
tensions created refer to a set of higher, existential
questions imposed.“ (Werner Ennokeit, 2010)

Installation view at "Strictly Berlin: Strategies of Survival", Berlin 2009.
Variations of the work were exhibited at Dieci.Due! Gallery, Milano
ROMA art fair, Rome (with Galerie Mario Mazzoli), and the Ruine der Künste Berlin










Timo Kahlen. Transfer, 2014


A person travelling, waiting, lingering in public space;
holding on to what he's got with him in a bag
in his hands; carrying the future from A to B;
knowingly, willingly or inadvertedly transferring either
potential or threat; enclosed in this one simple bag
filled with the menacing, alarming sound
of a lively swarm of bees.

HD Video
and sound performance
A variation of the performance invaded "Entrepreneurship Summit", Berlin 2018







 


Timo Kahlen. Zwiebelmuster (Still # 16) and Still # 17, 2006

Sound sculpture. Images of a swarm of flies hovering
over a plate - oscillating and vibrating irrationally,
agitated by very low, barely audible sounds of insects
whirring through the air.
A kinetic 'still life'.

Photographic images, wire, plate, loudspeaker and infrasonic sound of insects.
Exhibited at "Tonspur expanded: The Loudspeaker", Vienna 2010 - 2011
"Sound Art 2006: Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis, art cologne 2006
and "Timo Kahlen: Earcatcher", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2006.
"Zwiebelmuster (Still #17)" was re-installed at "Flügelschlag. Insekten in der zeitgenössischen Kunst",
Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg 2019 and at
"Timo Kahlen: aus der Luft gegriffen / in trockenen Tüchern",
Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020. Free download of catalogue (PDF / 4.9 MB).
English / German. 28 pages / 34 images. Edition Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020.








Timo Kahlen. Kette (Collier), 1996 - 2017

String of dead insects,
to be worn around the neck
as a necklace.

From a series of variant works.
Here, a large number of dead insects
was found within a very short time-span
(of a few minutes only) in June 2017.

Installation view courtesy Edition Ruine der Künste Berlin, 2017

Timo Kahlen: Immaterials (Immaterialien), 1986 - 2021
Holding My Breath. Sculpting Sound. Net Art.
Works with Wind. Light and Shade

English / German. 208 pages / 408 images
Texts by Tilman Baumgärtel, Julian Kämper, Werner
Ennokeit, Timo Kahlen, Leon Zwart and Vilém Flusser.

Subtle works with 'haptic' sound, with noise and vibration,
with ephemeral light and shade, with the swirling movement of invisible air,
with wind and storm, or with touch-sensitive, vanishing images
and sounds on the web are characteristic for Timo Kahlen’s oeuvre.
The new, comprehensive catalogue of the artist's works
was published  with generous support of the
Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin 2021

100 copies of the book are accompanied by an original,
signed and numbered binaural audio edition Depth of Field, 2021.

Order at mail@timo-kahlen.de









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