Façade-Play and Body-Sound

“Signs and Signals” @ Ars Electronica Festival 09Last weekend, at the FM4 co-hosted multimedia performance “Signs and Signals”, artist duo freyluft visualized sounds on the surface of the Ars Electronica Center (AEC).

“Any heavy-handed block can be transformed to a magical zone with an illuminated façade”, wrote Gerlinde Lang on the FM4 Website. Now, for sure, the new Ars Electronica Center (AEC) at its location on the banks of the Danube in Linz, does not qualify as a “heavy-handed block”, a magical zone it became nonetheless. This happened courtesy of artist duo freyluft, who, last weekend in cooperation with FM4, made 40.000 LEDs dance on the façade of the AEC, in their performance “Signs and Signals”.

The sounds involved were provided by DJs and live-musicians, but, notably, also by media artist Ulla Rauter, who utilized her own body as an instrument. With an electric violin bow she stroked her right forearm, while her hand was fitted with electric contacts. “The skin serves as a conductor. When the violin bow touches the skin, the circuit is closed”, says Rauter: “It is a sort of biofeedback.”
Text: Patrick Dax, ORF Futurezone Translation: Oliver Stummer

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