Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag uoaei – HELMHOLTZ VOOCAAL – KITTLERS FORMANT – an installation and concert for the architecture of the animalanatomical theatre – TA T on 12 – 14 September 2024 @ Berlin Art Week
-and at the same time the reverberation and the apparative traces of a discursive interconnection of central theoretical Motifs from Hermann von Helmholtz’s theory of sound sensations (1862) and from Friedrich Kittler’s Aufschreibesysteme 1800/1900 (1986) based on their experimental apparative and sounding evidence for an electrically excited additive (vocal) synthesiser according to Helmholtz, a double bass with electromagetically excited and feedback strings / sonD bass, a 24-key for 24-pitch-per-octave harmonium for ‘pure tuning’ according to Helmholtz, a FORMANT synthesiser, a horn system and an infrasonic sine wave system.
Opening: Thu. 12 September 2024, 6 – 11 p.m.
further installations / concert dates: Fri. 13 & Sat. 14 September 2024, 2 – 6 p.m.
TA T (https://tieranatomisches-theater.de/das-gebaeude/)
Humboldt University of Berlin
North Campus, House 3
Philips. 13
10115 Berlin
videostill, Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag & Lars Gühlcke with the sonH Synth, SYNTH 3. act, TA T, Berlin 2017
During the Biedermeier period, Hermann von Helmholtz had the first electrically excited additive synthesiser built according to his designs. This not only established his theory, which created the acoustic, physical and mathematical prerequisites for electronic music production right up to the present day, but also – according to Sonntag – anticipated the Sound of the pioneers of electronic music: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s sine-tone-mixing-reverberating Studie 2, which has its technical roots in radio and in the exploration of synthetic speech generation, predates the analog-synthetic soundscapes of the Floyds and Tangerine Dream or the electronic beats and sequences of Kraftwerk.
Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, HELMHOLTZ VOOCAAL 2. act, TA T, Berlin 2021 (photo by the artist)
1862: ‘The present investigations’ – the theory of sound sensations – ‘required the procurement of new instruments for their completion, which were not well suited to the inventory of a physiological institute and whose costs exceeded the usual resources of a German scholar. (…)
I was able to have the apparatus for the artificial composition of vocal sounds realised thanks to the munificence of His Majesty King Maximilian of Bavaria (…) The Soemmering Prize, which was granted to me by the Senckenberg Natural Research Society in Frankfurt am Main, was used to construct the harmonium in natural, pure tuning.’ Herman von Helmholtz
Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, Temporäres Editionsbüro @ SYNTH, TA T, Berlin 2017 (photo by the artist)
2001: „It is true, though, that in the days when I constructed my first aluminum computer apparatus, I did so with an aesthetic intention, since its output was music rather than the analog and digital chip sort of thing“ and even more, Friedrich Kittler’s DIY practice shapes the sound of his Information Materialist Media Theory.
Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, HELMHOLTZ VOOCAAL 1. act, TA T, Berlin 2021 (photo by the artist)
Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, sonDbass, SINUS, TA T, Berlin 2015 (photo by the artist)
The attempt is to short-circuit parts of Kittler’s seemingly delirious soldering work with the sonic reenactment of Helmholz’s physiological laboratory.
Performers: Lars Gühlcke & Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag
Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, 24-key for 24-pitch-per-octave harmonium for ‘pure tuning’ according to Helmholtz, HELMHOLTZ VOOCAAL 1. act, TA T, Berlin 2021 (photo by the artist)
Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, sonHSynth, HELMHOLTZ VOOCAAL 3. act, TA T, Berlin 2021 (photo by the artist)
In cooperation with the Georg Nothelfer Gallery, N-solab, the Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik and the Friedrich Kittler Gesellschaft @ Berlin Art Week
further links Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag uoaei in TA T concerning
Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag: UOAEI – HELMHOLTZ VOOCAAL: KITTLERS FORMANT
Impressum: Lars Gühlcke , Friedenstr. 16. , 10249 Berlin , larsguehlcke@n-solab.de