sound performance
Years is a contemporary music performance by German artist Bartholomäus Traubeck based on a modified turntable that generates music from the growth rings of a tree. Tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. Traubeck replaced the needle with an optical reading instrument and a program capable of reading the natural grain of a tree and associating it with the sounds of a piano. The programming and the configuration of the hardware define a set of precise rules, but the data acquired from each tree make the sound of every single wooden 'record' unique, musically rendering its singular evolutionary biorhythm. Through Years, the time the tree has gone though in order to grow is condensed into a piece of music. A fast-growing fir tree develops a lot of space between the rings and will have a more minimalistic and relaxed sound than an ash tree, which has a complex and thin section, giving rise to a more moving and eclectic composition. For T Zero, the artist will not only play his tracks but also show the genesis of this artwork.
Bartholomäus Traubeck is a media and sound artist exploring the intersection of material and media. He lives between Vienna and Monaco. His work often deals with gaining new perspectives on common objects and media through the translation and reframing of information. He studied Multimedia Art in Salzburg and Visual Communication at the Arts University in Linz. He has received numerous awards, including the Salzburg Media Art Award, an honorable mention for digital music and sound art from Ars Electronica, and the Special Award of the Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano 2012 (KunstArt Award). Traubeck has participated in numerous international exhibitions and events in galleries, festivals and museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, the Mudac Lausanne Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, Museum of Modern Art Salzburg.
traubeck.com
Traubeck has produced limited editions and 12" LPs of Years featuring recordings made using various trees that grow in Austria: Picea (spruce), Fraxinus (Ash), Quercia (Oak), Acer (Maple), Alno (Alder), Juglans (Walnut), Fagus (Beech).
Images:A record player that plays slices of wood. Year ring data is translated into music, 2011. Modified turntable, computer, camera, acrylic glass, wood
Informazioni
Entrance included in the ticket to the exhibitions
Palazzo delle Esposizioni
via Nazionale 194