Photo: Sperl, Fischer

At The Edge of the Emptiness of All Things

For several years now, the saxophonist and instant composer Michael Fischer, founder and director of the Vienna Improvisers Orchestra, and the author and language-performance artist Dieter Sperl have been exploring poetical-musical auditory spaces in a freely improvised interplay of text, sound, and noise. In 2014, the two attempted for the first time an interaction between the feedback saxophone developed by Fischer and the lyrical-philosophical linguistic particles that Sperl extracted from his text-generating machine when the landscape ceases (http://www.hls-software.at/frame_sperl_en.html).

The feedback saxophone is an exclusively analog instrument: a microphone inside the saxophone connected to a speaker near the instrument serves as a tone generator that is modulated by the motion of the instrument’s keys and the musician’s voice. On the basis of resonance and overtone series, multilayered sound and noise sculptures arise. Besides the creation, ordering, and processing of material (attained and to be attained), a network of meanings connected to language and sound is produced, and convergences and divergences in space become audible and experienceable within the flow of time. Sperl, for his part, constantly generates poetic images, thoughts, and scenes, repeating them, abandoning them somewhere or other, taking them up again, and suddenly cutting them off, or he lets them oscillate in his oral space: paradoxes, platitudes, proverbs, idioms, and everyday wisdom are always located in their radius of action between construction and deconstruction, where the Now unfolds its full powers, flaring up for a moment just to disappear again in the next instant, as if they had never existed …

Fischer: “A meandering agent of reflection and creation, from the innermost to the outermost, from the outermost to the innermost … in the space between, the being of what is expressed, in a constant transformation of its appearance …; a field of probability formed from the linguistic metaphors of the texture of the sound/noise and the tonal texture of language.”

Sperl: “When we play together, I simply sit there and watch what is happening. I plan nothing and let everything happen.”

Translation by Geoffrey C. Howes

Connect and let go

Reni Hofmüller, 2015

Water molecules enter emphere connections among themselves, let go, connect again and let go… water also connects to a lot of other substances/elements. And lets go again.

And so, water can be huge, a river, a lake, an ocean, and also tiny, a drop, a particle of a cell. It can be peaceful and quiet, or wild, rough and destructive. It can connect with nutrients just the same as with poison. Some researchers assume that water has memory – which could explain homeopathy. Others dont call it memory because that would imply conciousness, but they speak of resonances. They explain the uniquness of each snowflake as a result of a combination of frequences that the water molecule was exposed to while freezing. In any case water sounds differently deqending on how much of it moves at the same time, and on which ground it moves, be that the creek bed, the bouncing rain drop, the junction of a river into a lake, the sound of the sea, or the cracking of melting ice in water, above or under ground.

For the Poolloop Festival Zürich 2015, Reni and Jogi Hofmüller went on a sound research trip through the water world of Zurich – inflows and drains, canal and dewatering systems, drinking water and sewage plant, usage of tab and bottled water, from the microscopically small segment of a rain puddle to the bubbling of the Limmat to the shallow waters of Zürichsee and into the air, where all water goes, attracted by the sun and then let go. Connect and let go.

Biography

Reni Hofmüller, Graz

DIY Künstlerin, Musikerin, Komponistin, Performerin, Organisatorin, Kuratorin und Aktivistin im Bereich (Neuer) Medien, Technologie, Feminismus und Politik, Beschäftigung mit Freier Software und Open Hardware, Installationen, Performances, Solo und kollektive Arbeiten. http://renitentia.mur.at/

Jogi Hofmüller, Graz

Lives and works in Graz/Austria. Currently working for mur.at ­ Verein zur Förderung von Netzwerkkunst. Married to Reni Hofmüller. Co­founder of Radio Helsinki and mur.at. Member of 42 (artist group, media art). Running Plagiat and institut hofos together with Reni Hofmüller. Artistic work in different media. Freelance work as IT Consultant/Technician. Student of Computer Science at Graz University of Technology: October 2008 ­- present

die gestohlene figur (The Stolen Figure) (2015)

A voice, which becomes sexually indefinite, feeblish and apparently drained by alienation, faces up its situation in the form of an acoustic interior monologue. The shallows, which are represented by the voice, coagulate as a sound compilation of radio play clichés. Abrasively and bulky parts are combined with elegant atmospheric parts. The capitulation will win at the end. For now. To be continued…

More information about elffriede.aufzeichnensysteme and Jörg Piringer:

jörg piringer

geboren 1974. lebt in wien. ist mitglied des instituts für transakustische forschung und des gemüseorchesters. arbeitet in den lücken zwischen sprachkunst, musik, performance und poetischer software.
http://joerg.piringer.net

elffriede.aufzeichnensysteme

frei erfunden = künstlerische selbstformatierung als unabhängiges, un-diszipliniertes aufzeichnensystem; seit 2000 ausstellungen, veröffentlichungen, auftritte in literatur, bildender/medienkunst; inszeniert en masse entstehende, minimalistische tusche-feder-zeichnungen (auch als live-zeichnung) und stockend-sperrige kurz-dichtung (bruchstücke) als lesung, performance, lichtkunst, installation in kombination mit künstlerisch zweckentfremdeten, alten (büro)medien (schreibmaschinen, projektoren, diktaphonen etc.); definiert zeichnen / schreiben / aufnehmen in aufzeichnen als einheit und akt körperlicher präsenz / wahrnehmung. initiiert zusammenarbeiten im bereich performance und literatur. elffriede.aufzeichnensysteme ist v.a. nichts verpflichtet; zuletzt: schrei zum hummel. eine art buch (buch u. radiokunst), klever verlag wien 2013; kubine (ausstellung), alfred-kubin-haus zwickledt, 2014
www.elffriede.net
intermediäre zusammenarbeiten von elffriede.aufzeichnensysteme und jörg piringer seit 2002: „die sprache der ticket-pinguine“ (mira-lobe-stipendium 2003), „the notebook of e.h.“ (extrapool / nl, hörspielpreis st. pölten, ö1 kunstradio, elevate-festival graz), lesungen und performances.
http://www.elffriede.net/pinguine/
http://www.extrapool.nl/old2/audiotoop.html?start=20

OOO is radio and sound art collective from Austria. Radio Helsinki presents an excerpt of their recent work called OOO.

Martin Pichler: electronics, piano, flute

Ronald Wenzel: electronics, vox

Max Höfler: guitar

https://soundcloud.com/ooomusik
https://myspace.com/ooosound

In 2012 I – Max Höfler – bought some guns for an Austrian art association called Forum Stadtpark. The purchase of these guns established a situation that focuses on the most abstract entity we do have in our today society and that concerns us all: Money and all these financial issues that are considered as the basic structure of our society. To experience this abstract relation between us and the finance I transformed it into a concrete situation.

To understand the situation which I wanted to establish with this purchase, you have to know three things:
1.) The Forum Stadtpark spent a lot of money for these rifles: 10.000€.
2.) These guns still work. That means that you can still use them and that they had been already used before.
3.) The value of these rifles will rise because they aren’t produced any longer and they are rare. So they are some kind of a financial investment for the Forum Stadtpark as well.

After I bought these guns, I put them into a vitrine in the foyer of the Forum Stadtpark where they still are as an sort of permanent virulent inventory that questions how we can get out of this paradoxical situation.

Now in 2013 three artist – Andreas Heller, Johannes Schrettle and me (Max Höfler) – want to transform this situation into a new form: into some sort of a performance called “IG Sterben”. This performance is subtitled as a musical. Andreas Heller will act as nature in a wheelchair, Johannes Schrettle as love in a jogging suit and me as immanent danger. Furthermore we will form a no band band called “IG Sterben”. Our first rehearsal will be directly at the performance.

In this radia show you will get an insight of this transformational process and you will somehow get to know, what all these things may have in common.

http://zukunftssicherung.weblog.mur.at/

http://forum.mur.at/

downloadlink

SAKRA!2013, found itself on an acoustic search at St. Andrä Church in Graz/Austria on 1/3/13. The installative composition by Marufura Fufunjiru, Johannes Raggam, Christian F. Schiller and Nikos Zachariadis    was    sent    via    numerous    FM- Transmitters to different radios spread across the church, which led to individual tonal responses. An abstract and concentrated examination of the subject luck/bad luck.
http://in-dust.org/SAKRA!2013.html

//Radio Helsinki//

Lucas Cejpek text, reading
Michael Fischer live-mix with 2 CD-players

A live on air improvisation by Michael Fischer based on textfragments by Lucas Cejpek, dealing with interruption. The texts are part of a work in progress, a dictionary of a single word, which is INTERRUPTION.

In 2005 Michael Fischer developed connex:context, a series of live performances on Orange 94FM – community radio station Vienna, in collaboration with the authors Marietta Böning, Petra Ganglbauer, Christine Huber, Semier Insayif, Gerhard Jaschke, Christian Katt, Margret Kreidl, Peter Pessl, Valeri Scherstjanoi, Birgit Schwaner, Lisa Spalt, Dieter Sperl, Günter Vallaster, Peter Waugh, dasfröhlicheWohnzimmer; live performed at Alte Schmiede, Salon Praterstraße, Literaturhaus Wien, Literaturhaus Graz and festivals Literatur in Grün or Haydn in der Wart.

Lucas Cejpek born 1956 in Vienna, where he is living as a freelance author and director of theatre- and radio-plays. Latest book: Where Is Elizabeth? A novel, Sonderzahl publishers, Vienna 2009.

Michael Fischer musician-composer in the range of improvised music, noise, new music, soundscapes on saxophone, violin, cd-player/mixer, conducted instant compostions, since 1999 working on the implications of the electro-acoustic phenomenon feedback. 2005 he launched the Vienna Improvisers Orchestra, working as an instant composition conductor also for other large ensembles. Concerts, performances, festival appearances as musician and cross-collaborator throughout Europe and Japan. http://m.fischer.wuk.at

In cooperation with Radio Orange 94.0 FM (Vienna)
Original broadcast: Radio Orange 94.0 FM, November 6, 2012, 22:00 – 22:57

“Nature Tones For Mental Therapy” is a collage of field recordings of the soundcheck and surroundings of the “Hommage á Sun Ra” open air festival in Nickelsdorf / Austria (june 2012).
In a very harmonic atmosphere, you will listen to the nature; like birds chirping, kids playing and singing, people meet each other, skoaling, … on the other / outer side Marshall Allen, Juini Both, Ddkern and Philipp Quehenberger doing soundcheck, all over the place, for their upcoming (and amazing, btw) gig at night.

Reni Hofmüller for Radio Helsinki (Graz, A)

On August 3rd, 2011, Arissat-1 was launched directly from the ISS, the International Space Station. NASA TV broadcast this life over the internet, and thousands of people worldwide watched the deployment, and after that followed the first amateur radio satellite launched from a vehicle in space. After only a short life time, Arissat-1 was heard for the last time on Jan, 4th 2011. As we are going to undergo a similar procedure with mursat1, regarding a shortlife time, and very short and quick passes over head, Arissat-1 was a good way to learn about satellite spotting.

Recordings used: deployment, recorded at ESC im LABOR on Aug 3rd; Arissat signals received at the amateur radio groundstation, Graz, in August 2011; coallision – a realtime audio visual installation by Jogi Hofmüller, a sonification of debris parts from a coallision from 2 satellites in 2009, and Juri by Peter Venus (both shown at ESC during steirischer herbst 2011), Raumsonde Venus-Wega, Performance by Peter Venus and Marian Weger at musikprotokoll 2011, Windsong by Reni Hofmüller, at musikprotokoll 2011; excerpts of KraftiM – Criguere, found on Jamendo.

You can find more about the space art project mur.sat at http://sat.mur.at/

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