Piezo-Painting is a term that stands for both the making as well as the final artwork of an interdisciplinary encounter of music and painting in realtime, for which ferroelectric speakers are converted into microphones to sample sounds of painting, process them and feed them on the fly into the actual creative moment acoustically.
The concept goes back on an initiative by sound- and radio artist Knut Aufermann in 2001, when Berlin based painter Marcus Heesch worked in London for the premiere of the interdisciplinary project live-tempera. Aufermann prepared piezoelectric speakers as microphones, Heesch integrated them into the primer of his canvas.[1] The subsequent session took place without an audience, but the result of the experiment was found to be too much at source to not assign it to live-tempera.
"… the more abstract connection between live music and live tempera painting was made concrete by gluing two contact microphones onto the canvas so that they pick up painting noises. The microphones remain as part of the painting and will later act as speakers to play back the recording of the music and painting session in a future exhibition." [2]
— Knut Aufermann, Feedback Processes - an investigation into non-linear electronic music, S.20
Due to the technical configuration of the equipment, it is basicly possible to play sound recording through the integrated piezo speakers onto the canvas, but just so at low volume. Heesch speaks of an original that "can whisper to you the sound that made it".[3]
On air
In principle, the technical structure makes it possible for painting to be transmitted acoustically live on radio. So, in a corresponding context piezo-painting is one of many forms of radio art, but as such an extremely rare one.
2003
On August 12th, in the course of the Clear Spot program and following 1½-hours of interviews about the live-tempera project, Resonance FM 104.4 in London broadcasts the first live-painting very much likely in the history of radio.[4] Aufermann uses the technical configuration he has established 2 years before, the result stays with the spontanously found title "We Call It A Day" as the program ends.[5]
2005
At UdK Berlin, on November 1st, temporary radio station Radio_Copernicus starts on FM 95.2 for the rest of the month with the one-hour program Friendly Takeover:[6][7] in the studio - under pseudonyms - are Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington, Bryan Jurish, Henrik Markmann,[8] as well as Marcus Heesch for a ¼ hour, who is announced as "Shark MacGull" (in phonetic reference to Marc Chagall) and produces the artwork "sharkey onAir" with Aufermann (feedback, sampling) and Washington (circuit bending).[9]
2016
On October 30th, the last day of an one-month residence, Radio Revolten in Halle (Saale) transmits live from one of its studios via FM 99.3 live-tempera feat. Caroline Kraabel (saxophone), Sarah Washington (radio) and Chris Weaver (sampling, electronics).[10][11] The artwork is not just a reverence for the festival by title ("allerdings [révolte no.2]") as Washington uses transmitions by radioart-installations in the building to inspire the process while on the fly.[12]
List of artworks
| Year | Title | Project | Musicians (piezos by first mentioned) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Rough Rain | live-tempera | Knut Aufermann |
| 2003 | We Call It A Day | live-tempera | Knut Aufermann |
| 2005 | umweg um wege | live-tempera | Knut Aufermann |
| 2005 | subsimi [13] | rapid ear movement | Knut Aufermann |
| 2005 | sharkey onAir | live-tempera | Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington |
| 2005 | fedelhørensen [14][15] | live-tempera | Knut Aufermann, Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells |
| 2009 | feat. Tonic Train [16][17] | 21inch | Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington |
| 2016 | allerdings [révolte no.2] | live-tempera | Chris Weaver, Caroline Kraabel, Sarah Washington |
| 2024 | augenhöhe [révolte no.3][18] | live-tempera | Jan Braetsch, Maria Altmannshofer, Chanmi Shin, Mathilde Uhlig, Jonas Hummel |
Releases
2020 umweg um wege (Version einer Abkürzung) on vinyl, sampler Psych.KG 521 [19]
External links
Sources
The Radio_Copernicus Audio Archive, ZMK: Radio_Copernicus
Knut Aufermann, Helen Hahmann, Sarah Washington, Ralf Wendt: Radio Revolten. 30 Days of Radio Art, Publisher.: Corax e.V. – Initiative für Freies Radio. Spector Books, Leipzig 2019, ISBN 978-3-95905-189-7
Notes
- ^ live-tempera, 2011
- ^ Aufermann, 2005, p. 20.
- ^ live-tempera, 2011
- ^ live-tempera, 2011
- ^ Dailymotion, 2023
- ^ Radio_Copernicus, 2005
- ^ Spectre, 2005
- ^ Aufermann (1/11/05)
- ^ live-tempera, 2011
- ^ Radio Revolten, 2016
- ^ Mixcloud, 2016
- ^ live-tempera, 2016
- ^ rapid ear movement, 2005
- ^ Aufermann (25/11/05)
- ^ Soundcloud, 2013
- ^ Aufermann (07/06/09)
- ^ Soundcloud, 2013
- ^ WERK., 2024
- ^ Discogs, 2020
References
Knut Aufermann, Feedback Processes - an investigation into non-linear electronic music, 2002, S. 20
live-tempera Blog, 10 Years Live & Interdisciplinary, 2011
Dailymotion, We Call It A Day, 2023
Knut Aufermann, Past, (1/11/05)
Radio_Copernicus, Flyer, 2005
Spectre, Radio_Copernicus_Start of Broadcast in Berlin, 2005
Radio Revolten, October 30, 2016
Mixcloud, Radio Revolten: live-tempera painting feat. Caroline Kraabel, Chris Weaver, Sarah Washington, 2016
live-tempera Blog, Live @ Radio Revolten , 2016
Youtube, rapid ear movement - subsimi, 2008
Knut Aufermann, Past, (25/11/05)
Soundcloud, fedelhørensen, 2013
Knut Aufermann, Past, (07/06/09)
Soundcloud, 21inch feat. Tonic Train, 2013
Discogs FLUXUS +/- 200g Schaumerdbeeren von Trolli (4,95 Euro/Kilo), 2020
WERK. Piezo-painting, 2024
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