Instrumentarium is a performance series for musicians in separate rooms orchestrated by Berlin sound artist Boris Hegenbart in collaboration with various guest musicians. Hegenbart has invited avant-garde cosmonaut Felix Kubin to take part in the special BWPWAP and The Golden Age edition of his piece. Together they lift Instrumentarium to a new level and present the performance from a far away place: Pluto.

The setting is reminiscent of a studio production, referencing dub’s studio wizzardry. Two musicians play in acoustically separate rooms: they play together, but their communication is restricted; the limited information flow is the Instrumentarium’s object of musical design. Composer Boris Hegenbart performs with his laptop and mixer, sitting in the middle of the audience as the stage remains empty, while his duet partner is located in another room. Sound and image transmission connect the two musicians. The “absent” artist is isolated, as if in sensory deprivation: He never sees his partner, and whether or not the sounds played through his headphones are those that Hegenbart simultaneously plays live in concert remains uncertain. However, the mute, surveillance-camera-like black and white video image seen by Hegenbart’s partner is authentic, live, and unedited. The audience must believe in the authenticity of the performance despite the impossibility, in this world of digital media, to prove that it is so.

In collaboration with transmediale.