Monthly Archive for February, 2009

“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, however, it is impossible to spend one’s entire life in a cradle.” This quote from Constantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, a Russian rocket engineer, is the starting point for Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand’s speculative performance on the suspension of gravity. The reduction of gravitational effects may evoke emancipatory associations, yet such conditions predominate in our universe. In a spacecraft, among the most efficient ways to transport nearly all gases, liquids, and powders, is by means of a phenomenon known as acoustic levitation. In Domnitch and Gelfand’s ‘Sonolevitation‘, slivers of gold are acoustically suspended by a standing wave. A microphone monitors the slivers’ modulation of the levitatory wave: the slightest change in the sliver’s position has highly audible consequences. Sonolevitation is the first in a series of projects by the artists which explore microgravitational, near-vacuous environments. The capacity to create artworks in such spaces, permits the actuation of altogether unforeseen optical and acoustic processes. Especially for this performance, the artists have joined forces with TeZ, who creates a live quadraphonic setting of Sonolevitation. (transmediale.de)