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

Timo Kahlen
URSUPPE, 1987 - 2019

Eleven pedestals presenting an archive
of selected field recordings: humming, beeping, grinding, chirping,
twittering technological and natural sounds from the artist's archive.
Walking from pedestal to pedestal, the viewer experiences various soundscapes,
interfering, overlapping and fading, as he leans his ear
down to the miniature speakers.

Installation view at "Timo Kahlen: FLUID", Ruine der Künste Berlin, 2019.




In 2019, the new 54 min sound work "Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty. An Archive of Radio Noise 1989 - 2019",
based on the above archive, was broadcast as part of the Radius Sketchpad
radio arts transmission on Wave Farm WGCX radio and live stream, Acra / New York 2019.








Timo Kahlen
MI N  D  T HE  G AP, 2020

"fragments of residue sound arouse distant memories.
bits & pieces, laced together, by-gone references
to my personal soundtracks of the 1980s and early 1990s.
dust and static noise on the Vinyl recording - and my failure
to remember, exactly who and when - interfere."

Audio miniature released on earlid.org in the collection "Liminal Sounds: The Dream Had Me".
Curated by Joan Schuman, USA 2020

   


Timo Kahlen
Schwirren (Whirring),1993
Interference, 1994 and
Luftraum (Head Space), 2001


Display cases / marmalade jars,
speakers, and the enclosed beeping,
whirring, pulsing, dirty sound of
interfering radio waves contained within.


Installation views Washington D.C. 1994
and Galerie Pankow / Schwartzsche Villa, Berlin 2000 - 2001








Timo Kahlen. UR, 2006

Generative net art / interactive sound work.
In "UR" (2006) surfaces and vessels become
the containers of unwanted noise and 'dirt'
generated by technological media and communication.
Bits and pieces of sound create complex microcosms,
generated by the viewer when he touches and
rolls over the given objects with his cursor.
The multi-part sound piece, made up of grinding,
creaking, humming sounds and white noise, is conceived
for the projection in the gallery space.


Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe and the artist.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/ur.
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/ur/

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

Timo Kahlen
Media Dirt, 1989 - 1997, 2001
and Staubrauschen, 2001

An archive of hissing, gurgling, scratching,
whirring, singing, dirty static noise
of interfering radio waves and frequencies in between stations,
'noise & beauty' recorded since 1989  (work in progress /
to present time)


Several of Timo Kahlen's sound installations and sound sculptures
make use of empty spaces (voids) to visualize
sound waves and radiation occupying or filling
the apparently 'empty', transparent volume of air.

Timo Kahlen's earliest sound sculpture based on the
ephemeral sound of interfering radio waves,
Vitrine (1993), was first presented at the Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin in 1993 and 1994,
at Galerie Voges + Deisen in Frankfurt in 1994 and finally in the exhibition "Zeitskulptur. Volumen als Ereignis"
(Time Sculpture. Volume as an Incident) at the Oberösterreichische Landesgalerie in Linz in 1997.

The site-specific installation Interference (see image below) occupied the public restroom
of the DCAC Arts Center in Washington D.C. in 1994. Schwirren, 1993 and Luftraum, 2001
(see images below) are variants of this concept, installed at Schwartzsche Villa and
at Galerie Pankow in Berlin (2000, resp. 2001).

Media Dirt, 2004, the most iconic installation of this type,
consisting of three monumental glass cylinders
filled with the dirty, raw sound of interfering radio waves
(see previous page), was conceived for the "Wireless Experience"
exhibition at ISEA 2004 and installed at Kiasma Museum
of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland, before its presentation
at the Ruine der Kuenste Berlin in 2005.

Timo Kahlen. In's Grüne (Into Green), 2007

A pair of rubber boots (Wellingtons) filled with
abstract chirping, beeping sounds. The boots are placed
in a fragile field of porcellain dishes. "The sense of
a walk in the meadows - yet so reduced and abstract..."

Weltecho Galerie, Chemnitz 2007







Timo Kahlen
(Pedestal), 2011

An immersive sound sculpture:
a pedestal filled with inaudible, infrasonic vibration.
As the visitor steps onto the pedestal,
the vibration carries sound through his body,
culminating in the craneum.

Pedestal, transducers, low frequency vibration.
Prototype for Berlin Fashion Week 2012.
"Play. Zeitgenössische Kunst als interaktives Spielfeld", Staatsgalerie Stuttgart 2021
"Un Voyage dans le Bonheur", Galerie Le Caw, Walferdange, Luxembourg 2022








Timo Kahlen. DRONES, 2008 - 2014

An old bicycle with a shopping bag
hanging from its handlebar: temporarily abandoned, and filled with the
dark humming, nervous whirring and buzzing sound
of a swarm of bees  - interlaced with audio recordings of
high-tech, miniature drones flying overhead.

A nomadic, emotionally charged, disturbing sound object
carrying both potential and threat.


Installed at "Sound Reasons Festival", New Delhi 2014. Prototype of various projected performances.








Timo Kahlen. Noise & Beauty, 2007

Perpetual movement of static, twittering, chirping,
floating sounds across fields of loudspeakers
placed on two plateaus.

18-channel sound composition, chance movements
generated courtesy of Dieter Kohtz, Kiel.
Based on radio static noise and synthetically
produced 'natural' sounds

"Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty", Weltecho Galerie, Chemnitz 2007







 


Timo Kahlen
Watch Your Step, 2010

Circling, cascading sounds travel
up and down a spiraling staircase.

Site-specific sound installation for the entrance stairway
of Concent Art Gallery, Berlin 2010




 


Timo Kahlen. Brûte, 2010

Mainly silent sound sculpture. Several cables
and small, barely audible, organic sounds
come from an aluminium container and the
supporting pedestal beneath. Perforations in
the container, various knobs and controls seem
to allow for organic growth inside the vessel

Sound sculpture at "Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty",
Stiftung Starke, Berlin 2010





 

Timo Kahlen. Datenaustausch, 2010

A spoon, several small loudspeakers, and
audio components on a plate. Particles of sound
ready to be served.

Conceptual photographs,
presented in conjunction with synaesthetical
sound sculptures and sound installations, e.g
"Zart" (Tender), 2010: various plates filled with
miniature loudspeakers, emitting soft, subtle
microcosms of sound


Exhibited at "Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty", Stiftung Starke, Berlin 2010.
Courtesy Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn 2010

Timo Kahlen. Doppelter Boden, 2012


Complex, spatial sounds of echolocation
bounce out of a simple basin

Installation view in the artist's studio

 


Timo Kahlen. Infusion, 2010

Minimal sounds created by the slight vibration
of several small piezo loudspeakers
against the porcellaine rim of a tea-cup.
A very instable setup

Sound sculpture at "Timo Kahlen: Noise & Beauty", Stiftung Starke, Berlin 2010

Timo Kahlen. Gurgeln (Gurgle), 2014

As if sound was pouring from a jug, contained
and spluttering, gurgling inside and out.
A sculptural and acoustic reference, possibly,
to Vermeer's painting of the milk maid, frozen in time
as she holds and pours the viscuous liquid.

Sound sculpture: broken ceramic jug, two loudspeakers,
cables, sound of the artist gurgling.
"Hear XL2" sound art exhibition, Heeren, the Netherlands 2014








Timo Kahlen. FLUID, 1990 / 2019

A kinetic sound sculpture. A loudspeaker rotates in the oscillating artificial wind
of an electrical fan: projecting sound to meander, to sway and to roll over
the surrounding gallery walls. The sound travels at random speed, changing direction
without warning. The audio composition reflects upon the fluid nature of our body:
a vessel, filled mainly with circulating, transient, passing fluids - and with molecular voids,
with entities of invisible 'air' inhaled and expelled, contained and set free,
in a perpetual exchange of matter.


Installed at "Timo Kahlen: F L U I D", Ruine der Künste Berlin 2019.
Based on the 1990 wind and sound installation "Tautologischer Raum (Tautological Space)".
See the section "Works with Wind".








Timo Kahlen. Reposition, 2016

A chair with armrests: a kinetic
sound sculpture, in fact static,
yet with the strong sensation of being slid,
repositioned and moved across the room.

Strong, tangible vibration and acoustic sensation
is induced into the visitor's spine and back
by two transducers driven by mid- and
low-frequency sound and vibration.
Take a seat.


Installed 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 Berin 2020.
Installation view above: in the artist's studio, Berlin 2016








Timo Kahlen. Tanz für zwei Fliegen
(Dance for Two Flies) , 2005

Black-and-white silent video of two flies rotating, struggling,
floating and dancing on the membrane of a loudspeaker.
The work anticipates the related kinetic sound sculptures
'Zwiebelmuster', 2006 and 'Dance for Insects', 2010
(re-installed for "Sound Art: Sound as a Medium of Art"
at ZKM Center for Arts and Media, Karlsruhe 2012)
and the chance-generated interactive film 'Drama', 2011


The chance-generated interactive film was published at www.staubrauschen.de/drama.
With the end of browser support for the interactive Flash Player
on December 31, 2020 it vanished from the internet.
and became an invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifact'.

However, the interactive film 'Drama' 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.
Turn on your speakers.








Timo Kahlen. Fallout, 2010

Dry leaves dance on the vibrating aluminium membranes
of two loudspeakers. Undefined, dark rumbling
and high-pitched clicks - resembling those of a
recording of radioactivity with a Geiger counter -
keep the leaves alive


"La Révolte des Choses", MIM & more Gallery, Berlin 2011
curated by Heiko Daxl & Ingeborg Fülepp

    


Timo Kahlen. Circe, 2006


The 11-channel sound installation employs
two state-of-the-art, prototype directional loudspeakers (Sennheiser Audiobeams)
to keep the gallery space in continual motion
as the humming, buzzing sound of several flies seems to float
throughout the space, along the ceiling, and the walls
-  yet the insects remain invisible to the eye.


Other, more stationary and lower, softly moaning and
singing sounds (again, re-pitched sounds
of insects) meander by chance across nine smaller
loudspeakers attached to the rigid metal frameworks,
which trap and pin down a series of delicate
porcellaine plates carefully laid out on the gallery floor.
The work's motif is a scene from Greek mythology,
in which Ulysses is trapped by the wonders of Circe.


11-channel sound installation with two Sennheiser
prototype directional loudspeakers
at the Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2006.
With kind support by Sennheiser Germany.
Chance generation of sound courtesy Dieter Kohtz, Kiel

Timo Kahlen. Carpe Diem, 2011
Interactive sound art / net art

An image of vanitas, a ripe yellow fruit (a quince),
showing first signs of deterioration, decomposition and mold,
is at the base of the work 'Carpe Diem' (2011) by Timo Kahlen.
The soft, fragile surface of the object is enclosed by particles
of possibly organic noise and vibration, activated by
the viewer as he moves his cursor across the responsive,
interactive texture of the sounding object.

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 live audio composition 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 and the artist.

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/carpe.
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/carpe/

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

Timo Kahlen. Wabe (Hive), 2002
Electronic / audio beehive

The sound of bees contained in
marmalade jars, clustered and
tied up. Frequent disruptions by the
sudden, strong vibration
of the small loudspeakers
against the glass walls









Timo Kahlen
Sketches and models for Electronic Beehive,
New Delhi 2007 - 2010

Interactive multi-channel sound sculpture
based on the sound and vibration of
bees whirring through the air.

In cooperation with Ranjit Makkuni,
Gandhi Multimedia Arts Museum, New Delhi 2007 - 2008









Timo Kahlen. Out of Order, 2015

Out of control and under stress: a chaotic swarm of bees,
floating in mid-air, with abrupt changes in speed, direction
and interval. Unable to track individual bees in the
excessive chaotic flow of the swarm, the viewer's sense of loss
of control, of stress, is augmented by the unsettling
loss of clearly defined visual contours, however slight
and created by the misalignment of the red, green and
blue components of the video image, and by the video's
subtle composition of harsh cutting and whirring,
potentially aggressive and unsettling, droning sounds
of what seems a disoriented, possibly polluted
swarm of bees under pressure.

HD video

Timo Kahlen. Frösche (Frogs), 1996

Jam jars in a display case, enclosing the sound of frogs.
Reminiscent of "collecting pond life as a child
(often saved in old jam jars) and... a visual prompt
to thoughts about the sound still allowed
while the freedom (so necessary for the frog to survive)
is denied through containment."
Joanna Littlejohns, Guernsey 2001

"I like it to be on a second layer, more abstract.
Getting away from nature, but imitating it
at the same time."

Timo Kahlen in a conversation with Joanna Littlejohns
International Artist in Residence Programme, Guernsey 2001

Timo Kahlen. Zurück zur Natur
(Back to Nature), 2005/2012

A dismantled, empty birdcage,
a void filled with sizzling, static noise.
A strong sense of loss, of absence.


Collection of the artist





           


Timo Kahlen. ping tschae tschae, 2005
Generative multi-channel sound installation


In "ping tschae tschae" (which is the scientific,
ornithological description of a specific birds' song
- read aloud by the artist, amongst other descriptions,
from a bird watcher's book) the gallery space is filled
with complex, yet seemingly mechanical,
artificial or descriptive sounds of birds' songs,
appearing / disappearing at random
locations in the room.

How do we experience nature today, in the
digital age ? The complexity increases
as more descriptive sounds can be generated live
from the only object in the room, a touchscreen
monitor showing an interactive section of a wood.

Exhibited at Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, Berlin 2005
Netart Features, JavaMuseum 2010.
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe and the artist.

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

However, this early 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/ping/

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

          


Timo Kahlen. Zewidewit Zizidäh, 2001 - 2002

Sound installation based on the scientific,
ornithological description of birds' songs,
on the mimetic (re-) construction of (and difference to)
nature through language: three large glass cylinders
contain small loudspeakers presenting scientific
descriptions of common local birds' voice and song.

Exhibited at "Timo Kahlen: Zewidewit Zizidaeh", Galerie im Saalbau, Berlin 2002
and as "Der Gesang ist eine muehsam klingende Folge von knarzenden, knirschenden
und kurz floetenden Toenen", Universitaet der Kuenste Berlin 2006.

Timo Kahlen. Twitter, 2010

Proposal for sound installation
at Klankenbos, Nerpeelt / Belgium:

In Dutch, Flemish and - as the 'lingua franca' -
in English, metal sound objects attached
to the stems and branches of trees
send out ornithological, scientific descriptions
of the songs, voices and behaviour of
local bird populations, common to the region
at the borderline of Dutch and Flemish interests.
A work about cultural difference and concensus
- as expressed in the differing perception
of local nature; using the
identical birds' utterances, translated
into three different local languages,
as its conceptual example.


See related interactive proposal "Diodenzwitschern",
Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis 2006, Skulpturenmuseum Marl 2006.

Flash player required in your browser. With the end of browser support for Flash on January 1, 2021
the original interactive works above have become media archaeological artefacts.
Although still online, they are now visible and audible only for older browser versions
under Windows and MacOSX. Not visible on Android and iOS (both without Flash compatibility).
Or, watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551










Timo Kahlen. Transfer, 2004

Can images be translated into sound ?
This sound sculpture is based on the
sound of images of a miniature model of the
gallery space itself, transferred via modem
from Timo Kahlen / Berlin to Ian Andrews / Sydney
when developing their net art work Sound Drift (2005).

The modem sounds recorded while transferring
the images of the miniature models of the
exhibition space from Berlin to Sydney, and vice versa,
are now played back in the exhibition space itself,
engaging two cardboard sculptures,
abstract black boxes, in a complex,
aleatory digital dialogue

"Timo Kahlen: Media Dirt", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2005










Timo Kahlen. Schneidende Stille
(Cutting Silence), 2011

A dismantled, empty, 'censored' radio
emitting only a sharp, cutting,
whirring, deafening noise

Collection of the artist








Timo Kahlen. Working in Sound, 2017

Photographic tableau: the artist
working on 'audio tape sculptures'
in his studio in Berlin.

Exhibited at "Towards Sound", curated by Ruth Wiesenfeld, HilbertRaum, Berlin 2020











Timo Kahlen. (180 min of Wind), 1996
and Curtain of Wind, 1996
from the series of 'audio tape sculptures'

A curtain of 'wind' recorded on tape and knit
to the shape of a dark rectangular field.
Lines of audio tape, installed in
an open window : forming a visual 'screen'
of multiple horizontal lines interacting,
interfering and flickering - like 'white noise' -
in the draft of the open window


From the ongoing series of audio tape sculptures, since 1996. Collection of the artist








Timo Kahlen. aus der Luft gegriffen (Ether), 2020


Series of photographs, three paper bags, speakers, cables.
Three paper bags filled with static noise - dusty, grindy, crackling -
of radio waves intersecting and interfering. Seemingly abstract, until
you bend down to the paper bags - and listen to a strange, unintelligible dialogue
of voices distorted by the technical transmission of sounds
via medium range radio signals, circling and encompassing our globe,
travelling and reflecting in layers of air in the lower stratosphere.
Distorted signals recorded and filled into three simple paper bags.

The photographic series of antennae (admittedly used to capture analog
tv signals, not radio waves, from the ether) provides a visual reference.


Installed 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
Cinch, 2001


Gained in translation:
a percussive sequence of abstract information
and visual 'drop-outs' is created by
sound data inserted into the video input
of a video monitor, initially by mistake.

Digital video, and related earlier experiments

Timo Kahlen. Prototypes and proposals, 2012

for projected sound sculptures
and installations of various dimensions
employing innovative, state-of-the-art
paper loudspeakers

Proposals for Technical University of Chemnitz, Germany.
Copyright of the artist / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2012









Timo Kahlen
Clusters, 1991- 2005

From a series of sculptural models
for projected sculptures and installations.
Cardboard and paint, speakers and sound

Installation view at "Timo Kahlen: Media Dirt",
Ruine der Künste Berlin, 2005








Timo Kahlen
Fishing for Compliments, 2012

Fishermen's hooks and wires
suspended and twitching at eye-level
on thin wires mounted to speakers
driven by low-frequency sound.


Variations of an early wind installation at the International Artist in Residency Programme at 'the gallery', St. Peter Port, Guernsey 2001.
HD video and several related kinetic sound installations






 


Timo Kahlen
fragile, 2016

Shaped steel wire, suspended from a loudspeaker
driven by low-frequency sound. The fragile text quivering
slightly at random intervals

Installation view in exhibition "handschreiben"
at Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2016

Timo Kahlen
Katharsis (Catharsis), 2017

A white cube, a gallery pedestal, not more.
Filled with vibration and sound.
From the inside, the perceptible murmur of a dish-washer:
a complex mechanical hum of rotating and splashing water,
interjected by falling cascades of coins. A perceptible, tactile vibration
meanders along the pedestal's surface,
as the spacial development of the enclosed sound
projects throughout the object.

Reduced to its essential core, cleansed to a pure 'white cube'
- commonly used for the further display and elevation of a work of art -,
the sound sculpture 'Catharsis' seems to be purging and renewing
its own sculptural volume and context


Installed at "Timo Kahlen: Katharsis", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2017
and "möbelHauskunst", curated by Claudia Busching and Pomona Zipser, Potsdam 2021

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