Ever since Pythagoras’s monochord experiments, mathematics have radically expanded our understanding of and the possibilities for producing and experiencing sound. At the same time music has a particularly intense effect when it exhibits qualities that are mathematically unpredictable. The second edition of Technosphärenklänge, produced by the HKW in collaboration with CTM Festival, takes a look at the electrifying interconnections of music, mathematics and technology.

For the first time ever, the Russian musician and researcher Andrey Smirnov presents a piece on the original Rhythmicon, the world’s first drum machine, invented by Leon Theremin in 1932. The piece is a co-commission together with the weekly Klangkunst (Sound Art) broadcast of German public radio Deutschlandradio Kultur.

In another world premiere, John Chowning, a pioneer of electronic music, influential teacher and, as the inventor of frequency modulation (FM) synthesis, one of the trailblazers of today’s ubiquitous digital sound technology, meets Mark Fell, an outstanding protagonist of algorithmic music.

Marcus Schmickler explores numbers as mutual objects of music and mathematics. Based on Shepard-Risset glissandos, his "Fortuna Ribbons" project plays with the foundations of musical practice and sound perceptions.

Berlin project gamut inc takes media-archeological approaches to develop new music machines.

In his installation, "The Sound of the Waves", sound artist Yuri Suzuki combines modern data mapping techniques with old sound traditions to produce a real-time sonification of the movement of waves from various beaches worldwide. The installation runs from 17:00 – 22:00 in the HKW's foyer, and can also be viewed at the same time the following day.

Following the concert night, the artists return to HKW the next day for a session of talks & presentations surrounding their artistic research and practice. As a further output of this project, Andrey Smirnov will develop a radio piece that will be aired in autumn this year via Deutschlandradio Kultur’s weekly Klangkunst series.

→ Event details on HKW.de
→ Facebook event page

The Technosphärenklänge (Sounds of the Technosphere) concert series aims to explore current practices in sound and music as an element and expression of the technosphere – the quasi autonomous entity that is the sum of operational and technical processes and infrastructures around the globe, and whose conflicted interaction with natural planetary processes characterises the Earth’s current geological time, dubbed the Anthropocene. Developed in close collaboration between HKW and CTM Festival, the series is scheduled to take place at irregular intervals until 2018.

Media Partners

The Quietus | Crack | Groove | Create Digital Music | Deutschlandradio Kultur / Klangkunst