Timo Kahlen. Experimental media

Timo Kahlen. Re-Play: 21 vanished works of net art, 2005 - 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 became invisible & inaudible 'media archaeological artifacts'.

In 2023, these 21 interactive works of net art were 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.

http://www.staubrauschen.de/re-play
For Mac OSX and Windows. Please, turn on your speakers.












Timo Kahlen. Holding My Breath, 2020

March 2020. Holding my breath.
My breath, carefully controlled and tangibly contained
in an intimate, fragile and shimmering sphere,
becomes, quite literally, the medium of my reflections:
on social distancing, on cultural isolation and well-being.
Recorded in the artist's studio in Berlin,
in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
Times that make you 'hold your breath':
as the invisible air becomes existential.


HD video and sound from the series of ' Works with Wind '

Released on vimeo.com/409211734

For monitor viewing, speakers and headphones.
Webbiennial, Turkey 2020, The New Art Fest, Portugal 2020
and Field Notes: Safe and Sound Festival, Berlin 2020
Collection Kunststiftung DZ Bank, Frankfurt am Main 2022










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 from 2011-2020.
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 became 'media archaeological artifacts', and as such:
invisible & inaudible.

The 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. 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 online at www.staubrauschen.de/mistakes from 2011-2020.
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 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/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. / source / (postfactual), 2017


Change of values ?
Search, roll over and click at
a seemingly void, white monitor
with the mouse cursor to discover and discard
potential 'facts' in real-time

Timo Kahlen’s interactive net art work
was released on January 20, 2017 or later.
According to rumors, however, the work
was already visible and audible before.
This is alternatively true.


Multiple embedded layers of sound and generative text.
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.

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

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. Although still online, 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/source/


Honorary Mention at "What's the Net Listening To ?"
("Was hoert das Netz ?") prize question of the Junge Akademie
at Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
and Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, Berlin 2017.
Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival, Mongolia 2017.
"Was hoert das Netz ?", presentation of prize winners, ZKM Karlsruhe 2017.
Digital America, issue # 11, 2018 and Sound Arts Richmond, VA / USA 2018.
/'fu:bar/, Gallery Siva, Zagreb / Croatia 2018.
FILE Festival, Brasil 2022 (postponed from 2020).

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.


See earlier kinetic and static installations related to the "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 catalog (PDF / 4.9 MB). English / German. 28 pages / 34 images. Edition Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020.








Timo Kahlen. Slow Motion, 2019
Steel pins, gallery pedestal, magnet

Not more than a heap of steel pins on a white gallery pedestal
- yet, at short intervals, at a very slow speed, and pin by pin,
moving irrationally: continuously changing and rearranging its structural shape
and graphic pattern. Driven by chance, friction, and a magnetic force below.
A fascinating kinetic object.


"Timo Kahlen: FLUID", Ruine der Künste Berlin 2019
and "aus der Luft gegriffen / in trockenen Tüchern", Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020








Timo Kahlen. insignificant, 2020


insignificant : too small and unimportant
to be noticed. Yet, all decisive.

Collection of ZKM Karlsruhe. The interactive sound & net art work is
visible, audible and 'touchable' in your Mac OSX or Windows browser.

The original work was published at www.staubrauschen.de/insignificant.
With the end of browser support for Flash on January 1, 2021
the interactive work above became a media archaeological artefact.
Although still online at www.staubrauschen.de/insignificant, it became invisible & inaudible.

However, the 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/insignificant/

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

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 at 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 from 2011-2020.
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 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. (dis)continuity, 2020

A miniature drama. A chance observation in times of permanent crisis.
Recorded on the threshold of the artist's studio.


HD video, 1 min, silent. See vimeo.com/753012129
Released in 2022, in times of war in Ukraine/Europe








Timo Kahlen. Time Remaining, 2020
from: "Works with Wind"

An image of vanitas in pandemic times: a close-up of the artist
consistently blowing dandelion seeds from their stem.
Each breath of air carrying away a number of seeds, until none are left.
Part of the image: a (but seemingly) consistent timecode,
representing the time remaining from the beginning to the end
of the performance. A precise experimental setup
- interwoven by slight and unexpected sudden leaps in time and code,
and reversals of the steady flow of events, as the fragile dandelion parasols
seem to resist, to return, to re-align and re-gather at the stem:
making prolepsis and analepsis, time reversals and concurring movements
part of the narration, by rendering the narrative past, present and future
simultaneous elements in time.


HD video, 4:07 min. Recorded in the artist’s studio in May 2020,
during times of pandemic lockdown and isolation, holding our breath due to Covid-19
Image above: Timo Kahlen. Temporär (Temporary), 2021 prototype for temporary installation at Ruine der Künste Berlin, 2022.

Timo Kahlen
Control, 2015
from: 'The Wackelpudding Series'


A fragile acoustic and visual balance:
a plate with green pudding 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.

HD video and sound

"Experiments in Cinema", Albuquerque, New Mexico / USA 2016
Wolf Kahlen Intermedia Arts Museum, Bernau 2016
"60 Second Festival", Copenhagen / Denmark 2018 and
"Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018"
at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018; re-installed at "Timo Kahlen:
aus der Luft gegriffen / in trockenen Tüchern", Ruine der Künste Berlin 2020

Timo Kahlen
Trust Me, 2012


A short, conceptual video on the way in which
mobile media, digital clouds, new  electronic textiles
and technological fashion, and the permanent,
ubiquitous, mobile access to digital resources,
to electronic fragments, bits and pieces, might
be changing our everyday modes of expression,
of fashion and of our competitive, often archaic
(social) behaviour.

The artist himself, with the world in his pocket.
Men have always liked to boast  and exaggerate:
'Here, have a glimpse at the keys to my brand new car,
at my new house and at my beautiful wife, at all
the money I've got, and at the newest
technological resources, that I've got
right here, in my pocket ...'


Trust me.


Digital video, stereo sound
Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin 2013
Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin 2013
"Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018", seventeen video works at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018









Timo Kahlen. Digital Native, 2014

Two hands searching a handbag : filled with
bits and pieces of data and sound.The work investigates
the role and effect of mobile media and the permanent,
ubiquitous access to digital re-sources, images and sound,
on our current modes of experience, of behaviour
and of creative expression.

HD video
"Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018", seventeen video works
at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018











Timo Kahlen. Touch Screen, 2020

The artist’s fingers caressing, touching, leaving traces
on a computer screen - hands on, in search of physical closeness,
of live experience and intimate personal touch within the digital
and remote content displayed. The work was created while experiencing
the effects of ‘social distancing’ and loss of physical contact,
during times of the pandemic lockdown and crisis in May and June 2020.

HD video and sound








Timo Kahlen. in medias res, 2020

Digital warmth, emotion and proximity are deceptive.
Right there, in the midst of everything that’s currently happening,
virtually in medias res, and yet at the verge,
physically isolated and distant.

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

The 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/in-medias-res/

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

Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe. Featured at
"The Other Side", anonymous waves White Page Gallery, Australia 2020.









Timo Kahlen. Trojaner (Trojan), 2013
Scented sculpture
and 3D lenticular postcard edition


The sweet perfume emitted by the splintered,
fragmented, abstract red sculpture - the 'Trojan' -
catches public attention, as the artist carries the object,
placed on a white pedestal, through the streets of Berlin,
appearing here and there, at random locations.

On request, spectators and passers-by are encouraged
to take home as a present a very attractive 3D postcard
of the object: a state-of-the-art lenticular, multi-layered
photograph of the 'Trojan', presenting a sequence
of multiple and changeable three-dimensional views
of the object, as the postcard is held and seen
at different angles.

This conversation piece, the attractive
and unexpected present, now travels into the
homes and offices, trespasses the threshold
from public to private sphere, to unfold
its viral effect


"Timo Kahlen: Trojaner", Temporaere Kunstprojekte, Galerie M, Berlin 2013

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


Steam from the street, 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 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 public sculpture made of steam
was nominated for the "Kahnweiler-Prize for Sculpture" 2001
in Rockenhausen, Germany


Video loop, 1:43 min. Latest screening at "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018",
seventeen video works at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018







Timo Kahlen. In der Schwebe (Afloat), 1992

Conceptual drawing for exhibition space
filled with drifting clouds of steam.

Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin (University of the Arts Berlin), Berlin 1992







Timo Kahlen. Rauschabstand, 2012

Analog white noise and 'drop-outs'
both generate, (de)construct and
conceal the image in this conceptual short video.

Digital video








Timo Kahlen. White Noise, 2006 - 2008

A reflecting surface of water forms the
projection screen for innumerable drops of water,
ironically recreating a signal fundamental
to video art : 'white noise', the absence of
any recorded information. Timo Kahlen playfully
re-creates the technical phenomenon
as an analog (and analogous) process

Digital video
"Directors Lounge", Berlin 2006








Timo Kahlen. Flux, 2014

A river of concurring sound and images: the unorganized
sound of spectators and members of an orchestra
tuning their instruments and voices is reflected
in the complex movement and chaotic flow
of a surface of water.

Digital video

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. YesNo, 2011


Are we still compatible with the
technological and political systems
we live in ? Or in need of a change ?
Yes. No. Maybe


Timo Kahlen’s interactive net art work
YesNo (2011) is online, again in 2016. Search, investigate,
roll over and click  a seemingly indifferent, inactive,
monochrome white surface with the mouse cursor
to generate embedded sound and hidden text.


Re-released and reviewed on neural.it in 2016.
Selected for Web Biennial, Turkey 2017 (postponed).
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe

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

However, the 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/compatible/

As an alternative: watch the audio/video documentary at vimeo.com/441602551.
Featured on neural.it

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.

Timo Kahlen’s new interactive
sound and net art work 'Numbers'
was created in 2011, or 2013.


Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.
Click & roll over to generate the interactive work. Turn up your speakers.

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, the 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/numbers/

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

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 live as the viewer moves across,
pauses or clicks at the responsive texture
of the sound object.

Roll over & click to generate
the interactive sound art / net art 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.










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.


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

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 artefacts'.

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/delete/

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








   


Timo Kahlen
Wasserlinie (Water line), 2014

The vehement, sometimes intimidating
sound of the artist gurgling water
and splintered, eroded particles of soil
is set in contrast to the aesthetic play
of a reflecting surface of water,
slowly rising.

HD Video
and related series of photographs






 


Timo Kahlen. Daylight, 2014

The clicking, flickering, buzzing sound of neon lights,
on and off, structures this short conceptual video,
which - in a very minimalistic way - reveals why the
glaring, glowing daylight of neon lights in the studio
or business is in no way comparable to
the changing intensity, movement, temperature,
color and hue of the open sky.

To be projected in a room with neon lights.

HD Video
"Tráverse Video Festival", Toulouse 2015
and "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018", seventeen video works
at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018





   


Timo Kahlen. Die Farbe meiner Augen
(The Colour of my Eyes), 2014

The various colours of my eyes are generated with eyes shut:
sitting in the sun and gazing at the sky - with eyelids firmly closed.

Digital video

Timo Kahlen. Gravity, 2009 - 2014

An homage to the unspectacular: the image
of the full moon, caught and glowing
in the branches of a tree - distracting our attention
away from the busy preview of
contemporary modern art, forming not more than
the acoustic backdrop for the scene.

Digital video








Timo Kahlen
Junger Mond (Young Moon),1993 -1999

An immaterial sculptural process :
the moon caught / burning itself
into the branches of a tree

Analog videotape. "Timo Kahlen: Liquid Light", Galerie im Parkhaus / Berlin 2000









Timo Kahlen
Low Definition (Time Frame), 2014
Low Light,1991 -1999

Remaining light at dusk projects into a room,
covering the white walls with ephemeral curtains
of colored hues, of tinted nuances of grey.
The two works capture a small time frame at dusk,
shortly before the light fades away.

HD video 2014 / Analog video 1991 - 1999













Timo Kahlen
Liquid Light, 1989 / 1999

Ephemeral, moving sculpture of light
(found) beneath a tree


Analog video, stereo sound
"Timo Kahlen: Liquid Light", Galerie im Parkhaus / Berlin 2000






 


Timo Kahlen
Divergenz (Divergence), 1994 / 2000

Lost in translation. An ambivalent approach
to mimesis: the stereoscopic image of a tree,
red and blue images slowly disintegrating,
and second-hand, scientific descriptions
of birds' songs, read aloud by the artist from
a bird-watcher's book, gain abstract qualities.
Both visual and linguistic models serve as
(and prove to be) fragile references to
the natural setting.

"Timo Kahlen: Staubrauschen", Galerie Pankow / Berlin 2000
and "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018", seventeen video works
at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018. Analog video tape.

      


Timo Kahlen. Rasenstück, 2002
Video installation / projection
4 Min 42 Sec / Loop, stereo

Exactly five hundred years after
Albrecht Dürer’s watercolour drawing of a piece
of grass (Großes Rasenstück, 1503 / Vienna),
the video projection shows several pieces of lawn,
cut out and isolated in a white background,
a still life immensely enlarged in scale.
The sound of crickets creates a tranquil, natural
background. But every once in a while, the image
is disrupted by the strong vibration of cars and trucks
that can be heard rushing by. Modern nature, however,
seems to remain stoical, unmoved
and unimpressed.

"Timo Kahlen: Zewidewit Zizidaeh", Galerie im Saalbau, Berlin 2002
"Natural Affairs", Quadrart Dornbirn 2015 and "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018"
presentation of seventeen video works at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018








Timo Kahlen. Rasenstück, 2020

Fragments of turf, physically isolated,
temporarily removed from their context.
How can the experience of our times, the experience of 'social distancing',
of physical and emotional remoteness, of isolation
and disrupted contexts be visualized ?

HD video and sound. A new video work from the ongoing series
of ’Rasenstücke’ (since 2002), recorded in March and April 2020,
in the first weeks of the pandemic lockdown.






Compare the related series of photographs
'Isolation', 2020 and 'Isolation (Carte Blanche)', 2022.










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.

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, the interactive works of net art were 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 www.staubrauschen.de/re-play

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

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

Timo Kahlen
Progress! Progress! (Woodpecker Series), reedited 2021

Homo ludens:
How we play with and interpret the natural world.
Progress! Progress! questions the necessity of continual growth,
of the exploitation of personal and natural resources to economic needs
and technological progress. It presents a hyper-active model
of a woodpecker (a children's toy of the 1950s) driven
by a mechanical, technological framework ... until resources
and time run out.

HD video at "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018":
seventeen video works at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018,
at 60 Seconds Festival, Copenhagen / Denmark 2021, and at
Experiments in Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico 2022











Timo Kahlen
Schärfeun(d)fall (On Gravity), 1987

The artist testing gravity:
standing beneath an apple tree,
dropping an apple: again and again


Analog video tape








Timo Kahlen
Über das Denken
(On Thinking), 1987

The artist concentrating intensively
on the concept of an apple.
Various distractions and
technical drop-outs interfere


Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin (University of the Arts Berlin), 1987
Diecidue Arte, Milano 1991, and "Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018",
seventeen video works installed at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018.
Analog video tape








Timo Kahlen
Gähnen (Yawning), 1998
Video installation

A subtle psycho-aesthetical trap
for our senses: triggering off our innate
natural reflexes, the video installation shows
the artist on various monitors, inactively
and passively gazing at the viewer,
spontaneously yawning, again and again.


Analog video tape. Prototype of work first installed in 1998
Re-installation shortlisted for ISEA 2009, Belfast
Wolf Kahlen Intermedia Arts Museum, Bernau 2016

Timo Kahlen. Rotation, 1992 - 94

Series of rotating sculptures :
experiments on the visual dissolution
of the object

Analog video tapes








Timo Kahlen. Variable, 2014

The video investigates the interaction of nature,
man and machine. The mechanical rotation of a fruit
- a quince - in a blank, white setting
seems to be triggered by and correlated with
the sound and the speed of heavy traffic
passing by, clearly audible in the video, yet invisible
to the viewer. The visual dissolution created
by the forced rotation of the natural object
increases as more cars accelerate
to rush by, creating a process of
ambivalent interaction and mutual dependency
of the natural and the mechanized world
-- interrupted by only few manual interventions
by the artist to slow down the process.

Digital video








Timo Kahlen
Divergence II, Guernsey 2001
Installation and video

An isolated acanthus leaf animated
by the wind of an electrical fan. How do
technology and visual media change and
redefine our perception of nature ?

International Artist in Residence Programme
the gallery, St. Peter Port, Guernsey 2001

Timo Kahlen
Nach Vermeer / In Return, 2010

An homage to the concept of 'frozen' time
in Vermeer's 'Milk Maid', 1658-1660.
In this silent movie, the process of pouring milk
from a pitcher is deconstructed, delayed,
disected and reversed to suit the new medium

Digital video
"Timo Kahlen : Katharsis", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2017








Timo Kahlen. Online, 2014

Data flow of our times.
The video shows the reflection
of a green data cable or a pipeline
that seems to transform, to pulse, to expand
with the flow of the data and the sound
it carries, sending and receiving
bits and bytes of unintelligible
and invisible online information.

HD video








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, based on earlier experiments










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


A curtain of 'wind' recorded on tape.
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


University of the Arts / Hochschule der Künste Berlin, 1996









Timo Kahlen
Vorläufer
(Predecessors), 2012

Creative support and inspiration:
a series of sound sculptures resembling
walking sticks, based on soundtracks
by Mozart, Cage, the Beatles and Russolo

Work in progress










Timo Kahlen. Waves, 2014

Tentacles, like antennae, protrude from a fluctuating surface
of water. The tentacles seem to project or to decipher
interfering waves of sound filling the air.

HD video

Timo Kahlen
Gezeiten, 1999

Urban phenomena, steam from the streets of New York,
air inhaled and exhaled from air conditioning,
heating and refrigeration are juxtaposed
with the rise and fall of tides, with ebb and flow.
The video defines the city as a living organism.


Analog video tape, projected on suspended bedsheet
"Timo Kahlen: Liquid Light", Galerie im Parkhaus, Berlin 2000

           


Timo Kahlen
Vertical, 2001 and Inverse, 2001


The site-specific video installation 'Vertical',
realized as part of the 2001 residency at 'the gallery'
in St. Peter Port on the Channel island of Guernsey,
reflects on the gallery's immediate location
and environment.

It projects the view of the horizon at sea
- the dominant visual lead defining and
encompassing the island - into the gallery
space, while readjusting it by 90°.
The video projection shows the horizon
as a changeable, moving, jagged vertical line.

In the video installation 'Inverse' (simultaneously
installed at 'the gallery', Guernsey 2001),
waves at sea - seen inverted, upside down - produce
unseen arabesques, plunging and imploding in space.


From a series of video installations presented at the gallery, Guernsey 2001.
Courtesy International Artist in Residence Programme,
the gallery, St. Peter Port / Guernsey 2001.
"Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018",
Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018

Timo Kahlen
Lichtstaub, 1996

Series of black-and-white photographs
of hands filled with light and dust.

Compare Timo Kahlen's invention
of ephemeral "Phosphorus Photographs" in 1987:
the processual, ephemeral recordings of transient
photographic images on a photographic screen
covered with phosphorescent dust,
installed in the dark of the camera
and 'carrying' light for just a few minutes

Timo Kahlen. non video, 1990


An ephemeral work: the glaring light
of a 2000 Watt light bulb illuminates a small piece
of blackened photo paper, pinned to the wall.
Blinded by the intense light, the viewer carries the image
- the 'blind spot' - in his vision for the next few minutes


Installed at "Mondfinsternis",
Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin, Berlin 1990

Timo Kahlen
More or Less, 2014

Light and dark, inverted, float across the rough,
coarse concrete studio floor, seem to erode or deposit,
to burn into the concrete surface. Ephemeral light and solid
matter, figure and background, interact :
sometimes more, sometimes less.

HD Video

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

Silent video recording of two flies rotating, struggling,
dancing on the vibrating membrane of a loudspeaker.
Anticipates the kinetic sound sculpture
'Dance for Insects' of 2010

Courtesy Ruine der Künste Berlin 2005 /
Kinetic sound sculpture Tanz für Insekten at Stiftung Starke Berlin 2010,
Mediations Biennale Poznan 2012 and in the exhibition
"Sound Art: Sound as a Medium of Art", ZKM Karlsruhe 2012








Timo Kahlen
Everything Will Be Alright, 2008

Proposal for a re-assuring neon lettering
on the tortured, ruptured historical facade
of the Ruine der Kuenste Berlin,
a building bomb-shelled and punctured
by gunshot in World War II:
since 1985 a private exhibition space
'for material and immaterial arts' in Berlin


Courtesy Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2008

Timo Kahlen. migrtaion, 2016
Interactive sound and text / net art

The sound of displacement.
Roll over with the cursor
to genenerate embedded sound
and to read between the lines.
Based on a merry-go-round tune.


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

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

Interview in Digital America, issue 9, 2017
Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival, Mongolia 2017
Deutscher Kuenstlerbund, Berlin 2017
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe









Timo Kahlen. unstable, 2017
Interactive net art

An exploration of unstable media.
The viewer's cursor seems to lose control
of the game that is being played.

No obvious rules seem to persist.
The viewer does generate minimal visual
marks and acoustic incidents, but these
seem to avoid the presence of the cursor
on a blank monitor.

The interactive net art work is generated
- always different - as the viewer
moves across, pauses or clicks at
the responsive surface of the projection


"Timo Kahlen : Katharsis", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2017
Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe

The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/unstable .
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, the 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/unstable/

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

Timo Kahlen. Drift, 2015
from: 'The Wackelpudding Series'


A still life of a plate set on a table;
but soon the green volume of jelly
begins to drift and shiver, to shake violently at times,
while plate and surface beneath remain visibly unchanged.
Simultaneously, from the off, the sound of sliding,
dragging or pushing some invisible object from A to B
can be heard. Yet, this bigger part of the picture remains
invisible to the eye - and the reason for the
irrational and unexpected movement of the pudding
can only be inferred.

HD video
"Timo Kahlen: Barely visible / Fast unsichtbar 1988 - 2018", seventeen video works
at the Ruine der Künste Berlin 2018

Timo Kahlen. Articulate, 2018
Interactive sound and film projector /
interactive net art


The interactive sound and film projection
presents an uncensored dialogue. Pure sound.
Enter the dialogue. Go play, and value your
freedom of speech. In fact, it’s quite difficult
to be articulate.

The work is generated
as you move your mouse cursor, roll over,
pause or click at the sensitive surface of the
visual projection on your screen, thereby activating
multiple embedded layers of generative sound


The original was published at www.staubrauschen.de/articulate.
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, the 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/articulate/

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

Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin 2018
Vector Festival, Toronto / Canada 2018. Collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe











Timo Kahlen. Net Art, 2005 - 2020


A documentary (HD video, 24:24 min) of Timo Kahlen's interactive film
and sound projections. The interactive, sonic and visual works of net art,
published online 2005 - 2020, are generated - always different and live -
according to the varying position, direction and speed, and voluntary pauses
of the computer mouse, as it hovers and clicks on the touch-sensitive visual surface.
Invisible, multiple embedded layers of sound, noise and vibration
form complex acoustic compositions, as the visitor explores the individual works,
and his/her cursor meanders across the visual projections.

See vimeo.com/441602551

The original interactive works were visible and audible at :

www.staubrauschen.de/audiodust/ (Audio Dust, 2011)
www.staubrauschen.de/articulate/ (articulate, 2018)
www.staubrauschen.de/carpe/ (Carpe Diem, 2011)
www.staubrauschen.de/dioden/ (Diodenzwitschern, 2006)
www.staubrauschen.de/error/ (/error/, 2020)
www.staubrauschen.de/fromscratch/ (From Scratch, 2011)
www.staubrauschen.de/drama/ (Drama, 2011)
www.staubrauschen.de/in-medias-res/ (in medias res, 2020)
www.staubrauschen.de/insignificant/ (insignificant, 2020)
www.staubrauschen.de/migrtaion/ (migrtaion,2016)
www.staubrauschen.de/numbers/ (Numbers, 2011 or 2013)
www.staubrauschen.de/ping/ (ping tschä tschä, 2005)
www.staubrauschen.de/rohschnitt/ (Rohschnitt,2016)
www.staubrauschen.de/source/ (Source (postfactual), 2017)
www.staubrauschen.de/signal/ (Signal-To-Noise, 2011)
www.staubrauschen.de/sounddrift/ (Sound Drift, 2005 with Ian Andrews)
www.staubrauschen.de/mistakes/ (The Essence of Art, 2016)
www.staubrauschen.de/unstable/ (/unstable/, 2017)
www.staubrauschen.de/delete/ (Undo/Delete, 2011)
www.staubrauschen.de/ur/ (UR, 2006)
www.staubrauschen.de/compatible/ (YesNo, 2011; re-released 2016)

Yet, 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.
Although still online, they have become invisible & inaudible: 'media archaeological artifacts'.

However, the interactive works of net art were 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

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

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

Timo Kahlen studied
experimental photography and media art
with Professor Dieter Appelt at the Hochschule
der Künste (now University of the Arts) in Berlin
and holds a Meisterschüler (MFA) degree since 1993.

His earliest video tapes and video installations
date to the mid-1980s. In the following years, Kahlen
held a Lectureship for Visual Media and Video Art
at the fine arts departments of the Hochschule
der Kuenste Berlin in cooperation with the
Humboldt-Universitaet Berlin from 1993 to 1998;
and has continued to teach experimental media art
for more than 25 years, to the present.

    Timo Kahlen                 Works with Wind               Sound Sculptures

Experimental Media           Experimental Photography            Impressum / Contact



© Timo Kahlen / VG Bild-Kunst, 1999 - 2023