How Did You Do That? Theatre of Memory—A Neuro-Acoustic Sound Network

Portrait: Tim Otto Roth

Tuesday, February 20, 6 p.m.

In his sound installations, the internationally active conceptual artist and composer Tim Otto Roth combines art and science in new ways. His immersive acoustic laboratories and light installations, shown from Hanoi to New York, not only make research tangible in their own unique way, but also invite the audience to actively explore the spaces of sound and light.

Neurons communicate through bioelectric currents that activate or inhibit each other. Theatre of Memory takes this principle and translates it into a sound and light installation. Luminous loudspeaker sculptures, each assigned a specific sinusoidal tone and color, function as “audio neurons” and interact with each other via their tones. The dynamically changing, rhythmic tone sequences and sudden cluster releases are not predetermined by a score, but arise directly in the space through sonic self-organization. The audience can move through and even interact with the resulting microtonal sound network.

Program

Introduction

Self-guided visit of the installation

Artist talk (in English): Dr. Tim Otto Roth with Prof. Dr. Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann, Director of the Department of Music (MPIEA), and PD Dr. Daniela Sammler, Leader of the Research Group “Neurocognition of Music and Language” (MPIEA)

Venue

ArtLab and ArtLab Foyer of the MPIEA
Grüneburgweg 14
60322 Frankfurt am Main

Admission is free, please register here.

The event is part of our "How Did You Do That?" series.

Artistic work involves a multitude of decisions of a conscious and unconscious nature, judgments of success and failure, reflection on one's own actions. The series "How Did You Do That? Lecture Recitals on Contemporary Artistic Processes, Decisions, and Judgements" invites well-known artists from various disciplines to reflect on these processes: What criteria play a role? On what background are aesthetic decisions made? What kind of references are involved? When is a work/performance successful?

The evening events of the series each consist of a performance (concert, reading, performance) and an accompanying discussion with audience participation in the ArtLab, the concert and performance hall of the MPIEA.