Thermokoppel is a live sound-performance based on the relation between temperature and the acoustic properties of metal.
Instead of approaching musical instruments in a classical way, the material is worked for its physical properties. The heating up and cooling down of the elements will cause the metal to expand. This phenomenon will be used to create sound in different set ups.
The performances take place in created laboratorium settings. In these settings are elements of existing working spaces. Though in stead of using them in a normal context, we use them to create acoustic or electronic sounds. What you see happening, is what you hear. Raw materials are worked and devices are operated. The performers are serving the experiment and do what is necessary to achieve the desired results. From the heating up of the metal with fire to the cooling down of it with ice.
The visiters find themselves in a laboratorium surrounding and are present with the total process of generating sound; the screeming of expanding metal or the whizzing waterdrops on a red-hot metal plate. Together with the performers they undergo the tension between the control of the performers and the unpredictability of the natural material.
The physical work and time necessary in the interaction between the human and the machine plays a big role. Modern technology makes our devices and machines so small and fast as possible. One click with our mouse can be enough to start a huge process and generate a spectrum of sounds. By making devices which have to be controlled again with the whole body, we try to find back this balance and show a gleam of the primal force that is behind sound.
Thermokoppel is a collaboration between Rachia Ziani and Dewi de Vree.
> Photos
> Videos