The
area known today as »Adlershof, the City of Science, Technology and
Media«, was once the Johannisthal airbase. Germany's first
motorized aircraft took off from here at the beginning of the
20th century. In 1912 the German Experimental Institute for Aviation
(Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt – DVL) made
Adlershof its headquarter. After World War II, the airport was
closed and three institutions determined from then on Adlershof´s
destiny: The Ministry of State Security, East Germany's National
Television and the East German Academy of Science. After German
reunification the Berlin Senate decided to establish an »integrated
scientific and business landscape« on the Adlershof site.
From the end of 1991 on, the natural science faculties of the
Humboldt University of Berlin to Adlershof were relocated.
The area of the competition
is called »Aerodynamischer
Park« (Aerodynamic Park). Laboratories, motor test
beds, and wind tunnels were erected in the 20s and 30s and
are historical landmarks today. Together with the contemporary
architecture of the square, they determine this central location
of the Humboldt University.
The primary aim of this installation
is to make the layers of time perceptible through narrative
ambient sounds and to connect the layers with today. The
approach consists of 15 composed sound pieces which establish
a relationship to the historical landmarks and the present-day
architecture of the site. The duration of the compositions
is exaggeratedly slowed in time. The idea is to evoke memory »images« of
the layers of time through electronically based sound pieces.
The duration of the sound passages of the pieces are short
and the times of silence between the different passages are
lengthy (for example, a week or even a month). Also the spatial
distance of the locations of the 15 loudspeakers is huge.
This implies that the whole composition is completly heard
only in about a few years.
The red ellipsoid speakers are inscribed
on top with short texts. These rather poetical texts open
the space for narrative associations and imaginations.
Examples:
01. To be airborne. To be as courageous
as the air.
03. Thinking of tomorrow high above. The
Cities in side.
05. Greeting Humboldt.
06. Toward the ground. Spinning.
07. Speaking a child from the air. In
Russian.
08. To break at the earth. Dry.
10. Thinking of love. Under the linden
trees.
12. To give under pressure.
13. A radio. The light of the dial. Songs
of numbers at midnight.
14. The sky full of crazy stunts. Sunday
applause.
15. Keep a stiff upper lip.
The expectation and the presence
of the listener remains although there are - and because
there are - frequent passages of silence. The ambient noises
of the »Aerodynamischer Park« itself become aesthetic
and part of the composition. |
Competition
2005 Invited Competiton. Competition
prize winning, Permanent Sound Installation in the Public Space
of the Hunboldt-Universty Berlin, Campus
Adlershof
Realization
2006 Aerodynamischer Park, Hunboldt-Universty, Campus
Adlershof, Newtonstrasse 14–18. The sound installation
is open to the public day and night
Authors
Stefan Krüskemper with the collaboration
of Karlheinz Essl and Trillian GmbH
Publication
AIR
BORNE, verlag für integrative kunst,
ISBN-10: 3-00-018996-3
Links
www.air-borne.info |
