Georg Klein
I am working with sound, video, text, photos and space, mostly in public space, transforming it in a site-specific way.
I made several long-running installations - sometimes interactive - in public spaces like subway-stations, parks, streets and other passage ways (see for example "transition" in a sculpture of Richard Serra, "Ortsklang Marl Mitte" at a railway station or "TRASA" between Berlin and Warsaw).
A lot of my art projects are social experiments working with fakes and subversive affirmation.
For example "Ramallah Tours" and "Watch Tower". They consist of a part in public space (an installation/interaction) together with a media campaign in the internet (emailing/website) to create a provocative situation. They are created in a site-specific, local way but also in a global way. They are working with visuals (light/video), sound, objects (buildings/cars), texts, media art, merging all these different aspects creating a condensed situation - with a strong political background.
http://www.georgklein.de
I am working with sound, video, text, photos and space, mostly in public space, transforming it in a site-specific way.
I made several long-running installations - sometimes interactive - in public spaces like subway-stations, parks, streets and other passage ways (see for example "transition" in a sculpture of Richard Serra, "Ortsklang Marl Mitte" at a railway station or "TRASA" between Berlin and Warsaw).
A lot of my art projects are social experiments working with fakes and subversive affirmation.
For example "Ramallah Tours" and "Watch Tower". They consist of a part in public space (an installation/interaction) together with a media campaign in the internet (emailing/website) to create a provocative situation. They are created in a site-specific, local way but also in a global way. They are working with visuals (light/video), sound, objects (buildings/cars), texts, media art, merging all these different aspects creating a condensed situation - with a strong political background.
http://www.georgklein.de
Selected list of projects and exhibitions
2011
borderlines – Solo exhibition at Gallery écart at European Media Art Festivals EMAF: with Cuts and Creeds, Watchtower: EuropeanBorderWatch (soundpicdoc), RamallahTours (soundpicdoc), Make me wild - Godwin. Osnabrück, April-May 2011
Make me wild - Godwin – Video-Sound-Object-Installation with an illegal immigrant from Nigeria. With 3 posters in public space. European Media Art Festival (EMAF) Osnabrück, April-May 2011
2010
mirrorsongs Installation with 9 mirrors and 9-channel loudspeakers at a prison facade. With 7 singers from Sinop and 5 sound loops. 3rd SINOPALE Art Festival, Sinop Turkey (Aug-Sep 2010).
Cuts and Creeds Young male assassins in an oriental-occidental perspective. Audio-visual installation on muslim suicide bombers and western school shootings. Dual shop window projektion in Berlin-Neukölln, with 2 videoloops, 2 audioloops and 2 readers. (Feb. – March 2010).
2009
NaNa Installation with 2 parabol speakers and one german-korean word. Exhibition Shared.Divided.United, NGBK Berlin, Oct.-Nov. 2009, Kunstverein Hildesheim Dec.-Jan. 2010
RamallahTours – Intervention with a palestinian taxi in Israel 4-channel car-installation & Travel Agency Website. Tel Aviv / Umm el Fahem Art Gallery, Israel (June –Oct. 2009) www.ramallahtours.info
Sprich mit mir Site-specific research and interactive installation in the red-light-district of Braunschweig, Interviews with Freiern/Prostituierten, at the entrance Bruchstr., Exhibition klangstaetten/ stadtklaenge, Konsumverein Braunschweig (May-June 2009)
2008
venture doll Performance and video with a robot doll in US-american supermarkets, in cooperation with Steffi Weismann (Los Angeles, Oct./Nov. 2008)
sonic parole Acousticly animated advertisment slogans. Video installation at the media facade of the O2-Arena, Media Facades Festival (Berlin, Oct./Nov. 2008)
Peregrinatio Paradiso Urban Pilgrimage. 2-hours MP3 - sound walk. With texts by Ovid, Schwitters and Löns and interviews with blind and deaf-blind people. Voices: Angela Winkler, Steffi Weismann. (Hannover, Opening 06/08/2008).
2007
meta.stasen worldwide – unexpected – double-digit: A perspective on growth Installation in a tram wagon on tram line 8 Dresden-Hellerau (Festival Dresdner Tage für zeitgenössische Musik, 09/26 -10/07 2007)
TOWER TRILOGY : turmlaute.2 – wachturm|watch tower Sound|Video|Installation| Interaction | Organisation. With 6 surveillance screens and interactive observing devices. Former GDR watch tower Berlin (Festival MaerzMusik 07, 03/15 – 04/15 2007)
2006
TOWER TRILOGY : turmlaute.1 – starvation tower | hungerturm Sound-Video-Installation with texts by Dante and Kafka. 08/24-09/09 2006 Mousonturm Frankfurt and 09/16-09/23 2006 Ol. Rom./Italy.
takeaway an interactive wagon in coop. with Steffi Weismann. 06/01 – 07/15 2006, at Schlossplatz in Berlin Mitte. Intern. Sound Art Festival SONAMBIENTE 2006 Berlin.
TRASA 06 Installation tournee through 4 german-polish cities: Hannover-Poznan, Darmstadt-Plock. In cooperation with German Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Jan.-April 2006.
2005
pick-up performance interaction / installation interaction at the Kiosk Muesmattstr./ Freiestr. Bern (CH), in coop. with Steffi Weismann. Mark Blonds Projekt. 03/31 – 04/03 2005
warten / waiting Video-Sound-Installation with split screen projection in a shop-window at the tram station Alexanderplatz (Berlin). With a poem by B.Brecht (Berlin Alexanderplatz: UrbanArtStories, Curator: Petra Reichensperger). 04/29 – 05/16 2005, 8 p.m. – 8 a.m.
2004
TRASA warszawa-berlin - a bi-medial space of contact Interactive video-sound-installation with internet live-stream between Warsaw and Berlin in two subway stations (Plac Defilad - Alexanderplatz). With poems by Heiner Müller and Wislawa Szymborska. 2-channel-video, 8-channel-audio (09/24 – 11/28 2004).
2003
Imperial News sound-video-installation – Acoustic and visual frames and surfaces from international television news broadcast during the Iraq war 2003. Site-specific installation in the heraldry room of the Red City Hall, Berlin. Speaker: Steffi Weismann (10/2003).
2002
Ortsklang Marl Mitte. Blaues Blach. Viel Kunst.Wenig Arbeit with 2 tones by iron bars and 9 speakers. (sound-light-installation oct.-nov. 2002 in Marl / NRW), German Sound Art Award 2002.
wel-come installation with 22 granulated voices in the garden of castle Wiepersdorf, 08/2002. Re-installed at Berlin Alexanderplatz 05/2005.
2001
transition - berlin junction eine klangsituation Interactive installation in Richard Serras sculpture berlin junction at the Philhamonie in Berlin. With a poem of Bertolt Brecht. Speakers: Angela Winkler, Otto Sander (2001).
2011
borderlines – Solo exhibition at Gallery écart at European Media Art Festivals EMAF: with Cuts and Creeds, Watchtower: EuropeanBorderWatch (soundpicdoc), RamallahTours (soundpicdoc), Make me wild - Godwin. Osnabrück, April-May 2011
Make me wild - Godwin – Video-Sound-Object-Installation with an illegal immigrant from Nigeria. With 3 posters in public space. European Media Art Festival (EMAF) Osnabrück, April-May 2011
2010
mirrorsongs Installation with 9 mirrors and 9-channel loudspeakers at a prison facade. With 7 singers from Sinop and 5 sound loops. 3rd SINOPALE Art Festival, Sinop Turkey (Aug-Sep 2010).
Cuts and Creeds Young male assassins in an oriental-occidental perspective. Audio-visual installation on muslim suicide bombers and western school shootings. Dual shop window projektion in Berlin-Neukölln, with 2 videoloops, 2 audioloops and 2 readers. (Feb. – March 2010).
2009
NaNa Installation with 2 parabol speakers and one german-korean word. Exhibition Shared.Divided.United, NGBK Berlin, Oct.-Nov. 2009, Kunstverein Hildesheim Dec.-Jan. 2010
RamallahTours – Intervention with a palestinian taxi in Israel 4-channel car-installation & Travel Agency Website. Tel Aviv / Umm el Fahem Art Gallery, Israel (June –Oct. 2009) www.ramallahtours.info
Sprich mit mir Site-specific research and interactive installation in the red-light-district of Braunschweig, Interviews with Freiern/Prostituierten, at the entrance Bruchstr., Exhibition klangstaetten/ stadtklaenge, Konsumverein Braunschweig (May-June 2009)
2008
venture doll Performance and video with a robot doll in US-american supermarkets, in cooperation with Steffi Weismann (Los Angeles, Oct./Nov. 2008)
sonic parole Acousticly animated advertisment slogans. Video installation at the media facade of the O2-Arena, Media Facades Festival (Berlin, Oct./Nov. 2008)
Peregrinatio Paradiso Urban Pilgrimage. 2-hours MP3 - sound walk. With texts by Ovid, Schwitters and Löns and interviews with blind and deaf-blind people. Voices: Angela Winkler, Steffi Weismann. (Hannover, Opening 06/08/2008).
2007
meta.stasen worldwide – unexpected – double-digit: A perspective on growth Installation in a tram wagon on tram line 8 Dresden-Hellerau (Festival Dresdner Tage für zeitgenössische Musik, 09/26 -10/07 2007)
TOWER TRILOGY : turmlaute.2 – wachturm|watch tower Sound|Video|Installation| Interaction | Organisation. With 6 surveillance screens and interactive observing devices. Former GDR watch tower Berlin (Festival MaerzMusik 07, 03/15 – 04/15 2007)
2006
TOWER TRILOGY : turmlaute.1 – starvation tower | hungerturm Sound-Video-Installation with texts by Dante and Kafka. 08/24-09/09 2006 Mousonturm Frankfurt and 09/16-09/23 2006 Ol. Rom./Italy.
takeaway an interactive wagon in coop. with Steffi Weismann. 06/01 – 07/15 2006, at Schlossplatz in Berlin Mitte. Intern. Sound Art Festival SONAMBIENTE 2006 Berlin.
TRASA 06 Installation tournee through 4 german-polish cities: Hannover-Poznan, Darmstadt-Plock. In cooperation with German Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Jan.-April 2006.
2005
pick-up performance interaction / installation interaction at the Kiosk Muesmattstr./ Freiestr. Bern (CH), in coop. with Steffi Weismann. Mark Blonds Projekt. 03/31 – 04/03 2005
warten / waiting Video-Sound-Installation with split screen projection in a shop-window at the tram station Alexanderplatz (Berlin). With a poem by B.Brecht (Berlin Alexanderplatz: UrbanArtStories, Curator: Petra Reichensperger). 04/29 – 05/16 2005, 8 p.m. – 8 a.m.
2004
TRASA warszawa-berlin - a bi-medial space of contact Interactive video-sound-installation with internet live-stream between Warsaw and Berlin in two subway stations (Plac Defilad - Alexanderplatz). With poems by Heiner Müller and Wislawa Szymborska. 2-channel-video, 8-channel-audio (09/24 – 11/28 2004).
2003
Imperial News sound-video-installation – Acoustic and visual frames and surfaces from international television news broadcast during the Iraq war 2003. Site-specific installation in the heraldry room of the Red City Hall, Berlin. Speaker: Steffi Weismann (10/2003).
2002
Ortsklang Marl Mitte. Blaues Blach. Viel Kunst.Wenig Arbeit with 2 tones by iron bars and 9 speakers. (sound-light-installation oct.-nov. 2002 in Marl / NRW), German Sound Art Award 2002.
wel-come installation with 22 granulated voices in the garden of castle Wiepersdorf, 08/2002. Re-installed at Berlin Alexanderplatz 05/2005.
2001
transition - berlin junction eine klangsituation Interactive installation in Richard Serras sculpture berlin junction at the Philhamonie in Berlin. With a poem of Bertolt Brecht. Speakers: Angela Winkler, Otto Sander (2001).
Awards / Scholarships
Residency in Istanbul by Senat of Berlin, 2010
Media-Space-Award, NRW, Germany, 2006
Residency German Academy Rome, Casa Baldi / Villa Massimo, 2006
Scholarship Stiftung Kulturfonds, 2003
German Sound Art Award, Skulpturenmuseum Marl, NRW and WDR Köln, 2002
Scholarship Künstlerhaus Schloß Wiepersdorf, 2002
Sound Art Scholarship of Berlin, 2000
International Gustav-Mahler-Composition Prize, Austria, 1999
Residency in Istanbul by Senat of Berlin, 2010
Media-Space-Award, NRW, Germany, 2006
Residency German Academy Rome, Casa Baldi / Villa Massimo, 2006
Scholarship Stiftung Kulturfonds, 2003
German Sound Art Award, Skulpturenmuseum Marl, NRW and WDR Köln, 2002
Scholarship Künstlerhaus Schloß Wiepersdorf, 2002
Sound Art Scholarship of Berlin, 2000
International Gustav-Mahler-Composition Prize, Austria, 1999
Short CV (german/english)
■ Studium der Elektronik, Akustik, Digital- und Kommunikationstechnik in München sowie der Religionsphilosophie in Berlin. Seit 1996 selbständig als Komponist und Klangkünstler (Intern. Filmfestspiele Berlin 1997, Gustav-Mahler-Kompositionspreis 1999, Theatermusik mit Peter Zadek / Berliner Ensemble 2004). Dozent zu „Musik&Religion“ an der FU Berlin.
■ 2000 konzeptionelle Grundlegung von comaberlin - intermediale kunst im öffentlichen raum. Seitdem überwiegend mit ortsspezifischen Installationen im öffentlichen Raum vertreten, in Kombination von Klang mit Licht, Texten und Video (transition 2001, Ortsklang Marl Mitte Dtsch. Klangkunstpreis 2002, Imperial News 2003). Entwicklung eines politisch-situativen Kunstbegriffs für den öffentlichen Raum unter Einsatz medialer Konzepte zur Interaktivität und Partizipation („Interaktive Variation“). Es entstehen Arbeiten mit spezifischen akustischen Raumkonzeptionen („Akustische Texttopographie“) und visuellen Raumspiegelungen (TRASA 2004, warten 2005).
■ 2003 Gründung von KlangQuadrat – büro für klang- und medienkunst berlin mit Julia Gerlach zur Organisation und Produktion von Klang- und Medienkunstprojekten im In- und Ausland.
Mit der Erweiterung des öffentlichen Raums durch die mediale Ineinanderspiegelung zweier Orte über Livestreams (TRASA 2004/2006) wurde Georg Klein international bekannt. Seit 2005 entwickelt er zudem mit der Schweizer Performance- und Videokünstlerin Steffi Weismann interaktive, dialog-orientierte Installationen (pick up Bern 2005, takeaway Berlin 2006) und performative Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum (venture doll , Los Angeles 2008).
■ 2006 Verleihung des mit 12000 Euro dotierten MEDIEN-Raum-Preises (NRW). Im selben Jahr Realisierung des ersten Teils der TOWER TRILOGY (turmlaute.1: Hungerturm, 2006, Rom/Frankfurt), die sich mit einem spezifischen Bautyp, dem Turm und seiner gesellschaftlichen Bedeutung als Machtsymbol auseinandersetzt. Der zweite Teil (turmlaute.2: Wachturm, 2007) in einem ehem. Grenzwachturm in Berlin löste aufgrund eines medialen Fakes - der Gründung einer privaten Überwachungsorganisation zur Sicherung der europäischen Grenzen - bei Publikum und Presse große Irritationen aus (www. europeanborderwatch.org). Eine Strategie, die Klein auch im israelisch-palästinensischen Konflikt mit seinem Projekt „RamallahTours“ (UmElFahem/TelAviv, 2009) anwandte, bei dem er wiederum mit einem Objekt im öffentlichen Raum und einer virtuellen Komponente im Internet arbeitete (www.ramallahtours.com).
■ 2010 wurde bei der Installation „mirrorsongs“ (2010) in der türkischen Stadt Sinop eine Gefängnisfassade zur akustischen und visuellen Skulptur, während in der Audio-Video-Text-Installation „Cuts and Creeds“ (Berlin/Istanbul, 2010) muslimische Selbstmordattentäter westlichen Amokläufern gegenübergestellt werden. Das Thema der Grenze und ihrer Überschreitung - im physischen wie metaphysischen Sinne - stand auch im Zentrum seiner Sonderausstellung „borderlines“, die 2011 im Rahmen des European Media Art Festivals (EMAF) gezeigt wurde, u.a. mit der Arbeit „Make me wild - Godwin“ (2011), bei der er einen illegalen Immigranten aus Nigeria in Osnabrücks Straßen auftauchen lässt.
=========================================================
■ Study of sound engineering at the Technical University in Munich and Berlin, later on philosophy of religion and ethno-musicology at the Free University of Berlin. From 1991-94 assistant in a project on the visualizing of sound for deaf people at the Technical University of Berlin.
■ Since 1996 he has worked freelance as composer, with film music („amor fati“, Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin 1997), solo works with live electronics, works for ensembles (International Gustav-Mahler-Composition Prize 1999, Austria), and also music for theatre (Peer Gynt with Peter Zadek / Berliner Ensemble, 2004).
■ In 2000 founding of „comaberlin production of inter-medial art | investigation, development and realisation of sound situations”. He developed an origin concept of site-specific art in public space („sound situation“) with sound, including light, texts and later also video („transition“ 2001, „Ortsklang Marl Mitte“ German Sound Art Award 2002, „Imperial News“ 2003).
■ In 2003 founding of „KlangQuadrat / Sound Square, office for sound and media art berlin“ with Julia Gerlach for organizing and producing sound and media projects at home and abroad. He created new concepts of interaction and participation in sound art and visual art („Interactive variation“). With his project „TRASA“ (2004/2006) he extended public space by connecting two cities in an inter-medial way by an internet live stream between Germany and Poland. With the suisse performance artist Steffi Weismann he develops dialogical, interactive installations in public space („pickup“ 2005 in Suisse, „takeaway“ 2006 in Berlin, „venture doll“ 2008 in Los Angeles).
■ In 2006 he started with his TOWER TRLOGY as an artistic discourse on the meaning of towers as symbols of power in our society. After the first part (“turmlaute.1 : starvation tower”, 2006) in Rome, the second part „turmlaute.2: watch tower“ (2007) in a GDR watch tower in Berlin was working with a fake by founding a new organisation for private surveillance (www.europeanborderwatch.org) which provoked strong reactions in public. The third part „turmlaute.3 : bank tower“ should be realized in London.
■ In 2009 two of his most delicate works were realized: „Sprich mit mir“ in the Red-Light-District of Braunschweig and „RamallahTours“ in Israel, this work dealing again with a fake in public space and the internet (www.ramallahtours.info). In 2010 he showed a dual audio-visual installation on oriental and occidental assassins: gunmen and martyrs ("Cuts and Creeds") in Berlin and Istanbul, using the self-manifestations of young, male assassins. Borders and their violation – politically and mentally – are the central topic in his solo exhibition “borderlines” (at European Media Art Festival EMAF 2011) including his work “Make me wild – Godwin” (2011) with an illegal immigrant from Nigeria appearing in the streets of Osnabrück.
■ Studium der Elektronik, Akustik, Digital- und Kommunikationstechnik in München sowie der Religionsphilosophie in Berlin. Seit 1996 selbständig als Komponist und Klangkünstler (Intern. Filmfestspiele Berlin 1997, Gustav-Mahler-Kompositionspreis 1999, Theatermusik mit Peter Zadek / Berliner Ensemble 2004). Dozent zu „Musik&Religion“ an der FU Berlin.
■ 2000 konzeptionelle Grundlegung von comaberlin - intermediale kunst im öffentlichen raum. Seitdem überwiegend mit ortsspezifischen Installationen im öffentlichen Raum vertreten, in Kombination von Klang mit Licht, Texten und Video (transition 2001, Ortsklang Marl Mitte Dtsch. Klangkunstpreis 2002, Imperial News 2003). Entwicklung eines politisch-situativen Kunstbegriffs für den öffentlichen Raum unter Einsatz medialer Konzepte zur Interaktivität und Partizipation („Interaktive Variation“). Es entstehen Arbeiten mit spezifischen akustischen Raumkonzeptionen („Akustische Texttopographie“) und visuellen Raumspiegelungen (TRASA 2004, warten 2005).
■ 2003 Gründung von KlangQuadrat – büro für klang- und medienkunst berlin mit Julia Gerlach zur Organisation und Produktion von Klang- und Medienkunstprojekten im In- und Ausland.
Mit der Erweiterung des öffentlichen Raums durch die mediale Ineinanderspiegelung zweier Orte über Livestreams (TRASA 2004/2006) wurde Georg Klein international bekannt. Seit 2005 entwickelt er zudem mit der Schweizer Performance- und Videokünstlerin Steffi Weismann interaktive, dialog-orientierte Installationen (pick up Bern 2005, takeaway Berlin 2006) und performative Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum (venture doll , Los Angeles 2008).
■ 2006 Verleihung des mit 12000 Euro dotierten MEDIEN-Raum-Preises (NRW). Im selben Jahr Realisierung des ersten Teils der TOWER TRILOGY (turmlaute.1: Hungerturm, 2006, Rom/Frankfurt), die sich mit einem spezifischen Bautyp, dem Turm und seiner gesellschaftlichen Bedeutung als Machtsymbol auseinandersetzt. Der zweite Teil (turmlaute.2: Wachturm, 2007) in einem ehem. Grenzwachturm in Berlin löste aufgrund eines medialen Fakes - der Gründung einer privaten Überwachungsorganisation zur Sicherung der europäischen Grenzen - bei Publikum und Presse große Irritationen aus (www. europeanborderwatch.org). Eine Strategie, die Klein auch im israelisch-palästinensischen Konflikt mit seinem Projekt „RamallahTours“ (UmElFahem/TelAviv, 2009) anwandte, bei dem er wiederum mit einem Objekt im öffentlichen Raum und einer virtuellen Komponente im Internet arbeitete (www.ramallahtours.com).
■ 2010 wurde bei der Installation „mirrorsongs“ (2010) in der türkischen Stadt Sinop eine Gefängnisfassade zur akustischen und visuellen Skulptur, während in der Audio-Video-Text-Installation „Cuts and Creeds“ (Berlin/Istanbul, 2010) muslimische Selbstmordattentäter westlichen Amokläufern gegenübergestellt werden. Das Thema der Grenze und ihrer Überschreitung - im physischen wie metaphysischen Sinne - stand auch im Zentrum seiner Sonderausstellung „borderlines“, die 2011 im Rahmen des European Media Art Festivals (EMAF) gezeigt wurde, u.a. mit der Arbeit „Make me wild - Godwin“ (2011), bei der er einen illegalen Immigranten aus Nigeria in Osnabrücks Straßen auftauchen lässt.
=========================================================
■ Study of sound engineering at the Technical University in Munich and Berlin, later on philosophy of religion and ethno-musicology at the Free University of Berlin. From 1991-94 assistant in a project on the visualizing of sound for deaf people at the Technical University of Berlin.
■ Since 1996 he has worked freelance as composer, with film music („amor fati“, Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin 1997), solo works with live electronics, works for ensembles (International Gustav-Mahler-Composition Prize 1999, Austria), and also music for theatre (Peer Gynt with Peter Zadek / Berliner Ensemble, 2004).
■ In 2000 founding of „comaberlin production of inter-medial art | investigation, development and realisation of sound situations”. He developed an origin concept of site-specific art in public space („sound situation“) with sound, including light, texts and later also video („transition“ 2001, „Ortsklang Marl Mitte“ German Sound Art Award 2002, „Imperial News“ 2003).
■ In 2003 founding of „KlangQuadrat / Sound Square, office for sound and media art berlin“ with Julia Gerlach for organizing and producing sound and media projects at home and abroad. He created new concepts of interaction and participation in sound art and visual art („Interactive variation“). With his project „TRASA“ (2004/2006) he extended public space by connecting two cities in an inter-medial way by an internet live stream between Germany and Poland. With the suisse performance artist Steffi Weismann he develops dialogical, interactive installations in public space („pickup“ 2005 in Suisse, „takeaway“ 2006 in Berlin, „venture doll“ 2008 in Los Angeles).
■ In 2006 he started with his TOWER TRLOGY as an artistic discourse on the meaning of towers as symbols of power in our society. After the first part (“turmlaute.1 : starvation tower”, 2006) in Rome, the second part „turmlaute.2: watch tower“ (2007) in a GDR watch tower in Berlin was working with a fake by founding a new organisation for private surveillance (www.europeanborderwatch.org) which provoked strong reactions in public. The third part „turmlaute.3 : bank tower“ should be realized in London.
■ In 2009 two of his most delicate works were realized: „Sprich mit mir“ in the Red-Light-District of Braunschweig and „RamallahTours“ in Israel, this work dealing again with a fake in public space and the internet (www.ramallahtours.info). In 2010 he showed a dual audio-visual installation on oriental and occidental assassins: gunmen and martyrs ("Cuts and Creeds") in Berlin and Istanbul, using the self-manifestations of young, male assassins. Borders and their violation – politically and mentally – are the central topic in his solo exhibition “borderlines” (at European Media Art Festival EMAF 2011) including his work “Make me wild – Godwin” (2011) with an illegal immigrant from Nigeria appearing in the streets of Osnabrück.
Ramallah Tours (2009)
Intervention with a palestinian taxi in Israel
4-channel car installation + travel agency website
Umm el Fahem / Tel Aviv
20th june – 24th oct. 2009
Exhibition “29km” at Umm el Fahem Art Gallery
The project RamallahTours consists of two parts belonging together: one local part on the street in public space and one corresponding part in the internet by a website.
A taxi is parking in different cities of Israel, coated with the typical color and labelling of palestinian, collective taxis, which numerously appear in Ramallah but not in Israel – and may not appear in Israel. The car is sounding, excited by four transducers at the car body (door, window, back, front), which produce different sounds: engine and alarm sound, noise of a car barrier at Qalandia border checkpoint, radio news with jewish reactions on the speech of US president Barak Obama in Kairo (english), abstract electronic sounds, two peace songs (hebrew and arabic), noise of concrete mixer at a new settlement, sounds of the sea and beach games at Tel Aviv. The self-sounding vehicle is irritating the passers-by and draws attention to the inscription at the car: "Ramallah Tours: safe&easy, Haifa | Tel Aviv | Jerusalem" with the website www.ramallahtours.info.
By the english-hebrew-arabic website the visitors find a travel agency called Ramallah Tours – safe & easy, which offers tours from Israel to Ramallah/Palestine for different groups of citizens: jewish-israelian citizens, palestinian-israelian citizens, palestinian citizens, other nationalities. The website contains a booking service, a permission download service and feedback form. The additional highlite site announces an exhibition on the future of Palestine in Ramallah: Shrinking Palestine – An Architectual Challenge, where a great future is proclaimed for a shrinking and fragmented country. Behind the faked surface of pretended future plans there can be seen a foto series on the actual reality of the two countries.
http://www.ramallahtours.info
Intervention with a palestinian taxi in Israel
4-channel car installation + travel agency website
Umm el Fahem / Tel Aviv
20th june – 24th oct. 2009
Exhibition “29km” at Umm el Fahem Art Gallery
The project RamallahTours consists of two parts belonging together: one local part on the street in public space and one corresponding part in the internet by a website.
A taxi is parking in different cities of Israel, coated with the typical color and labelling of palestinian, collective taxis, which numerously appear in Ramallah but not in Israel – and may not appear in Israel. The car is sounding, excited by four transducers at the car body (door, window, back, front), which produce different sounds: engine and alarm sound, noise of a car barrier at Qalandia border checkpoint, radio news with jewish reactions on the speech of US president Barak Obama in Kairo (english), abstract electronic sounds, two peace songs (hebrew and arabic), noise of concrete mixer at a new settlement, sounds of the sea and beach games at Tel Aviv. The self-sounding vehicle is irritating the passers-by and draws attention to the inscription at the car: "Ramallah Tours: safe&easy, Haifa | Tel Aviv | Jerusalem" with the website www.ramallahtours.info.
By the english-hebrew-arabic website the visitors find a travel agency called Ramallah Tours – safe & easy, which offers tours from Israel to Ramallah/Palestine for different groups of citizens: jewish-israelian citizens, palestinian-israelian citizens, palestinian citizens, other nationalities. The website contains a booking service, a permission download service and feedback form. The additional highlite site announces an exhibition on the future of Palestine in Ramallah: Shrinking Palestine – An Architectual Challenge, where a great future is proclaimed for a shrinking and fragmented country. Behind the faked surface of pretended future plans there can be seen a foto series on the actual reality of the two countries.
http://www.ramallahtours.info
turmlaute.2: Watch Tower (2007)
Audio | Video | Installation | Organisation | Interaction
GDR Watch Tower Schlesischer Busch
Berlin Kreuzberg-Treptow
15th march – 15th april 2007, daily 2-8 p.m.
Intern. Festival MaerzMusik | Kunstfabrik e.V.
12th nov. – 30th dec 2009, 6-10 p.m.
L’art au Garage, Rue des Lilas, Paris
http://www.europeanborderwatch.org
The background of the project is a test run in November 2006 in Texas, where, at the instigation of Governor Rick Perry, webcams were installed along a short section of the fence on the US-Mexican border whose images could be accessed by anyone worldwide.
The European Border Watch Organisation (EUBW) was founded on the basis of the Texan model and has established its recruitment centre in the Berlin border watchtower and in the web with their own website. EU citizens can register there as web patrols, in order to take an active part in the extensive monitoring of EU external borders via the Internet. Registration takes place on the ground floor; blue EU flags at the entrance create an "official" atmosphere. The EUBW's visual showroom, with a camp bed and an old telephone, is situated on the first floor, and the second floor houses the acoustic control room, in which the interactive surveillance equipment is mounted.
First floor: Visual Showroom
The dark showroom on the first floor only has narrow embrasures as window openings, six of which are converted to viewing screens for the installation. Webcam images of ostensible border events are seen on them which only show desert, ocean or forest. Various border images are simulated in a preliminary trailer: the Bug river on the border between Poland and Ukraine, a view of the Carpathian Mountains, or the ocean beach between the Canary Islands and northwest Africa but also a webcam image of the US-Mexican border – the only genuine border photo – allegedly from the partner organisation, Texas Border Watch. The webcam streams, which are colour-coordinated and almost never show a human being, seem rather meditative or, from the standpoint of the border guard and observer, boring. Minor image interference is incorporated into the video streams, with a particular interference characteristic devised for each "webcam".
Second floor: Acoustic Control Room
In the control room on the second floor a standing acoustic field is generated. The basis of the sound is a recording of the natural vibration of the concrete tower. The continuous sound represents the continuousness of the surveillance and changes only gradually over the duration of the installation in the spirit of an "interactive variation." The field can be modified from the outside by means of a laser sensor and a surveillance camera which react to "incidents" – i.e. movements of uninvolved passers-by or traffic in the vicinity of the tower.
If the passer-by crosses the middle surveillance zone, a voice also emerges from the horn loudspeaker hanging at head level in the centre. The various snippets of sentences come from an interview with a border guard who did his military service in this tower in GDR times and, over 18 years later, recounts how they worked and what unusual events occurred (". . . yes, definitely," ". . . so what we made, they were such wires, they were self-firing devices, but they weren't lethal . . .", "but somehow the woman probably, – she didn't make it"). The sentences in the Saxon dialect are difficult to understand and sound like a police loudspeaker announcement.
The second floor has continuous windows that are covered with green transparent sheeting. As a result, on the inside all colours are altered, the viewer's own face is pale green and all contrasts are strangely weakened. To outside it’s like a view through a military night vision equipment.
Public Relations Strategy
The publicity for the installation became part of the artistic work and was fully integrated into the project. Using a website (see: www.europeanborderwatch.org ) created for the installation, which appeared to be very serious, as well as electronic and written invitations, EU citizens were invited to actively monitor the European external borders. In addition, an invitation to the opening of the Berlin registration centre of the EUBW was sent to the press and everyone accessible to us via the Internet.
Responses were collected by reply mail and the feedback form on the website and were pasted into the comment book that was made available in the tower. For on-site visitors there was a special guided tour, with a welcome at the entrance on behalf of the European Border Watch and a green informational handout with a web patrol registration form on the back. In the video showroom George Klein appeared as a guide to the EUBW and explained the satellite webcam system and the goals of the organisation to the visitors, inviting them to lie down on the camp bed and, with this overview of all EU external borders, to choose a surveillance area. While the visitors were still in the acoustic control room on the second floor, they were referred to the comment book on the ground floor.
Audio | Video | Installation | Organisation | Interaction
GDR Watch Tower Schlesischer Busch
Berlin Kreuzberg-Treptow
15th march – 15th april 2007, daily 2-8 p.m.
Intern. Festival MaerzMusik | Kunstfabrik e.V.
12th nov. – 30th dec 2009, 6-10 p.m.
L’art au Garage, Rue des Lilas, Paris
http://www.europeanborderwatch.org
The background of the project is a test run in November 2006 in Texas, where, at the instigation of Governor Rick Perry, webcams were installed along a short section of the fence on the US-Mexican border whose images could be accessed by anyone worldwide.
The European Border Watch Organisation (EUBW) was founded on the basis of the Texan model and has established its recruitment centre in the Berlin border watchtower and in the web with their own website. EU citizens can register there as web patrols, in order to take an active part in the extensive monitoring of EU external borders via the Internet. Registration takes place on the ground floor; blue EU flags at the entrance create an "official" atmosphere. The EUBW's visual showroom, with a camp bed and an old telephone, is situated on the first floor, and the second floor houses the acoustic control room, in which the interactive surveillance equipment is mounted.
First floor: Visual Showroom
The dark showroom on the first floor only has narrow embrasures as window openings, six of which are converted to viewing screens for the installation. Webcam images of ostensible border events are seen on them which only show desert, ocean or forest. Various border images are simulated in a preliminary trailer: the Bug river on the border between Poland and Ukraine, a view of the Carpathian Mountains, or the ocean beach between the Canary Islands and northwest Africa but also a webcam image of the US-Mexican border – the only genuine border photo – allegedly from the partner organisation, Texas Border Watch. The webcam streams, which are colour-coordinated and almost never show a human being, seem rather meditative or, from the standpoint of the border guard and observer, boring. Minor image interference is incorporated into the video streams, with a particular interference characteristic devised for each "webcam".
Second floor: Acoustic Control Room
In the control room on the second floor a standing acoustic field is generated. The basis of the sound is a recording of the natural vibration of the concrete tower. The continuous sound represents the continuousness of the surveillance and changes only gradually over the duration of the installation in the spirit of an "interactive variation." The field can be modified from the outside by means of a laser sensor and a surveillance camera which react to "incidents" – i.e. movements of uninvolved passers-by or traffic in the vicinity of the tower.
If the passer-by crosses the middle surveillance zone, a voice also emerges from the horn loudspeaker hanging at head level in the centre. The various snippets of sentences come from an interview with a border guard who did his military service in this tower in GDR times and, over 18 years later, recounts how they worked and what unusual events occurred (". . . yes, definitely," ". . . so what we made, they were such wires, they were self-firing devices, but they weren't lethal . . .", "but somehow the woman probably, – she didn't make it"). The sentences in the Saxon dialect are difficult to understand and sound like a police loudspeaker announcement.
The second floor has continuous windows that are covered with green transparent sheeting. As a result, on the inside all colours are altered, the viewer's own face is pale green and all contrasts are strangely weakened. To outside it’s like a view through a military night vision equipment.
Public Relations Strategy
The publicity for the installation became part of the artistic work and was fully integrated into the project. Using a website (see: www.europeanborderwatch.org ) created for the installation, which appeared to be very serious, as well as electronic and written invitations, EU citizens were invited to actively monitor the European external borders. In addition, an invitation to the opening of the Berlin registration centre of the EUBW was sent to the press and everyone accessible to us via the Internet.
Responses were collected by reply mail and the feedback form on the website and were pasted into the comment book that was made available in the tower. For on-site visitors there was a special guided tour, with a welcome at the entrance on behalf of the European Border Watch and a green informational handout with a web patrol registration form on the back. In the video showroom George Klein appeared as a guide to the EUBW and explained the satellite webcam system and the goals of the organisation to the visitors, inviting them to lie down on the camp bed and, with this overview of all EU external borders, to choose a surveillance area. While the visitors were still in the acoustic control room on the second floor, they were referred to the comment book on the ground floor.
TRASA warszawa-berlin (2004/06)
Trasa
Ein bimedialer Kontaktraum / A Bi-Medial Space of Contact
von georg klein
mit Texten von / with poems of / Heiner Müller und / and / Wislawa Szymborska
Audiovisuelle Situation mit Internetliveübertragung zwischen zwei Stadträumen
Audio-visual Situation with internet live stream between two urban spaces
Sprecher / voice: Ewa Anna Schidlik (PL) / Sabine von der Tann (D)
TRASA 04
Berlin - Alexanderplatz und/and Warschau/Warsaw - Plac Defilad
25/09 – 28/11/2004 / 25th. Sept. – 28th. Nov. 2004
TRASA 06
Hannover – Poznan 26/01 – 26/02/2006 / 26th. Jan. – 26th. Feb. 2006
Darmstadt – Plock 09/03 – 09/04/2006 / 9th. March – 9th. April 2006
TRASA is a simultaneous installation at two places in public space, which are connected through two media: an acoustic media by which texts
and electronic sounds are transfered and a visual media by which live-images of the people passing by are transfered. The audiovisual situation TRASA was first realized at two central places in Berlin and Warsaw: Alexanderplatz and Plac Defilad. In these strongly mercantile shaped environments the passers-by of both cities could meet on their passage to the underground.
The passage halls lead directly to a wall above a staircase. There a camera was installed which filmed the people from a frontal perspective. These images were projected on the wall and at the same time streamed to the other city. The image of the other city was projected directly next to the own mirrow-image. People of one urban space faced people of the other urban space – and at the same time regarded themeselves. Perception of the others and oneself in a simultaneous process.
Within the visual constellation a spacial track was defined by a sensor (laser). Moving on it made audible two poems , in Berlin the poem ... by Heiner Müller, in Warsaw „Bahnhof“ von Wisława Szymborska –. (see the yellow line TRASA-TEXT).If a person stepped into a certain spot of the track the assigned text would start in a musical ornamentation. Thus the text could be physically crossed and experienced according to the own position.
The content of the poems reflected the real situation: meeting and not-meeting. Both poems talk about something missing. In the audio-visual situation people in both cities could see but not touch each other, could not talk and listen directly but hear the other language. The intimacy of the poem was in harsh contrast to the anonymity of the urban situation. In addition utopic thoughts are articulated in the poems:
Szymborska: „In the paradise lost of probalitity. Somewhere else. Somewhere else. How these little words ring.“ Müller: „The angel I hear him still. Although he no longer has a face“. Both poets end with an acoustic metaphor for the loss of utopy.
Trasa
Ein bimedialer Kontaktraum / A Bi-Medial Space of Contact
von georg klein
mit Texten von / with poems of / Heiner Müller und / and / Wislawa Szymborska
Audiovisuelle Situation mit Internetliveübertragung zwischen zwei Stadträumen
Audio-visual Situation with internet live stream between two urban spaces
Sprecher / voice: Ewa Anna Schidlik (PL) / Sabine von der Tann (D)
TRASA 04
Berlin - Alexanderplatz und/and Warschau/Warsaw - Plac Defilad
25/09 – 28/11/2004 / 25th. Sept. – 28th. Nov. 2004
TRASA 06
Hannover – Poznan 26/01 – 26/02/2006 / 26th. Jan. – 26th. Feb. 2006
Darmstadt – Plock 09/03 – 09/04/2006 / 9th. March – 9th. April 2006
TRASA is a simultaneous installation at two places in public space, which are connected through two media: an acoustic media by which texts
and electronic sounds are transfered and a visual media by which live-images of the people passing by are transfered. The audiovisual situation TRASA was first realized at two central places in Berlin and Warsaw: Alexanderplatz and Plac Defilad. In these strongly mercantile shaped environments the passers-by of both cities could meet on their passage to the underground.
The passage halls lead directly to a wall above a staircase. There a camera was installed which filmed the people from a frontal perspective. These images were projected on the wall and at the same time streamed to the other city. The image of the other city was projected directly next to the own mirrow-image. People of one urban space faced people of the other urban space – and at the same time regarded themeselves. Perception of the others and oneself in a simultaneous process.
Within the visual constellation a spacial track was defined by a sensor (laser). Moving on it made audible two poems , in Berlin the poem ... by Heiner Müller, in Warsaw „Bahnhof“ von Wisława Szymborska –. (see the yellow line TRASA-TEXT).If a person stepped into a certain spot of the track the assigned text would start in a musical ornamentation. Thus the text could be physically crossed and experienced according to the own position.
The content of the poems reflected the real situation: meeting and not-meeting. Both poems talk about something missing. In the audio-visual situation people in both cities could see but not touch each other, could not talk and listen directly but hear the other language. The intimacy of the poem was in harsh contrast to the anonymity of the urban situation. In addition utopic thoughts are articulated in the poems:
Szymborska: „In the paradise lost of probalitity. Somewhere else. Somewhere else. How these little words ring.“ Müller: „The angel I hear him still. Although he no longer has a face“. Both poets end with an acoustic metaphor for the loss of utopy.
Cuts and Creeds (2010)
Young male assassins in an oriental-occidental perspective
Dual audio-visual installation
with 2 window projections (video), 2 armchairs with headphones (audio), 2 readers (text)
audio-video-loops 18 min. each
reader with 32 pages each, room sound loop 36min.
Berlin-Neukölln, 5th febr. – 1st march 2010 (german/english version) INM Berlin
Istanbul-Beyoğlu, 23th nov. – 12th dec. 2010 (turkish version) apartman projesi
The installation Cuts and Creeds brings together two sides of a virulent phenomenon in our times: the Muslim suicide-bomber and the western gunmen running amok. On both sides most of them are young, male - and full of hate. And they come from the midst of our society. The audiovisual installation works with self-manifestations of suicide assassins – both are using video messages on the internet to reach a wide public - and merges it with specific material of their cultural and ideological background.
For the installation research was made in Iran, Germany and England, on western videogames, Iranian martyrdom and the medial representation of assassins in the internet. The work touches two sensible points in these two different cultural areas and brings them together in a disturbing way, questioning the attraction of this kind of ideology of violence and sacrifice: In which condition I have to be, which feelings, which thoughts I must have to kill other people and myself in this way.
The installation consists of a double projection in two windows of an empty shop in a mixed urban area of western and muslim people. Whereas from outside only the videos can be seen, inside the shop with a atmospheric roomsound all three media – video, audio, text – can be perceived parallelly, but seperated for both sides A and M. There are only two armchairs, where the voices of the now dead assassins of a shool shooting (A) and a suicide bombing (M) can be heard by headphones.
Young male assassins in an oriental-occidental perspective
Dual audio-visual installation
with 2 window projections (video), 2 armchairs with headphones (audio), 2 readers (text)
audio-video-loops 18 min. each
reader with 32 pages each, room sound loop 36min.
Berlin-Neukölln, 5th febr. – 1st march 2010 (german/english version) INM Berlin
Istanbul-Beyoğlu, 23th nov. – 12th dec. 2010 (turkish version) apartman projesi
The installation Cuts and Creeds brings together two sides of a virulent phenomenon in our times: the Muslim suicide-bomber and the western gunmen running amok. On both sides most of them are young, male - and full of hate. And they come from the midst of our society. The audiovisual installation works with self-manifestations of suicide assassins – both are using video messages on the internet to reach a wide public - and merges it with specific material of their cultural and ideological background.
For the installation research was made in Iran, Germany and England, on western videogames, Iranian martyrdom and the medial representation of assassins in the internet. The work touches two sensible points in these two different cultural areas and brings them together in a disturbing way, questioning the attraction of this kind of ideology of violence and sacrifice: In which condition I have to be, which feelings, which thoughts I must have to kill other people and myself in this way.
The installation consists of a double projection in two windows of an empty shop in a mixed urban area of western and muslim people. Whereas from outside only the videos can be seen, inside the shop with a atmospheric roomsound all three media – video, audio, text – can be perceived parallelly, but seperated for both sides A and M. There are only two armchairs, where the voices of the now dead assassins of a shool shooting (A) and a suicide bombing (M) can be heard by headphones.
