Location
Den Frie Udstillingsbygning
Time
5/9 2024
Genre
Artificial Optimism performance program
Grenzfrequenz – Fluktuierendes Geflüster – Phantom Streams
by
Alexander Tillegreen
Performance happens together with 'Point of Passage (Terminal)' by Leonie Strecker
Alexander Tillegren (*1991, DK)
Grenzfrequenz, 2024, 4-channel loudspeakers (quadrophonic version), 7:00 min
Fluktuierendes Geflüster, 4-channel loudspeakers (quadrophonic version), 6:00 min
Phantom Streams, 2020-ongoing, 4- channel loudspeakers (quadrophonic version), 10:00 min
‘Phantom words’ is a term denoting an auditory illusion where a given listener can hear words that are not in fact acoustically present. They are words or sounds which, in a manner of speaking, come into being as a result of interactions with the listener’s own cultural, linguistic and subconscious baggage. The experience of illusory phantom words can change depending on where you stand and how you move in relation to the source of the sound. In this way, the listener – bringing to bear their subjective presence and perception – becomes a co-creative, active part of the work and its world of sound. Alexander Tillegreen has a long-standing preoccupation with phantom words, illusions and similar psychoacoustic phenomena where sound, observer and context mutually influence each other. This interest in expanding and honing our perception of sound can be traced back to the media experiments of the Futurists, as can the ambition to place the listener at the centre of the work. A central reference is Luigi Russolo’s manifesto “The Art of Noises” (“L’arte dei rumori”, 1913) and the parallel invention of noise-producing instruments, the so-called Intonarumori, which he demonstrated for the first time in a theatre in Modena in June 1913. The present work’s distinctive approach where words and sounds are seen as sculptural and infinitely transformable material also resonates with the Futurist movement’s overall interest in dynamism and shifts in media and sensation.
ABOUT ALEXANDER TILLEGREEN (DK)
Alexander Tillegreen is a composer and artist who operates both visually, sonically and spatially. He works in a plurality of formats including multichannel sound installations and performances, interactive listening sessions, paintings, prints, light and concerts as well as exhibitions, commissioned works, and releases. In 2023, he presented a cycle of new commissioned sound works for the Darmstädter Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. Same year, he released his debut album in words on the acclaimed German electronic music label rastermedia. His most recent work investigates the relationship between psychoacoustic sonic phenomena and their potential to reflect and awaken the listener’s own linguistic and cultural embeddedness. Alexander Tillegreen’s work has been the subject of several institutional solo and group exhibitions including: A Bruit Secret – Hearing in Art at Museum Tinguely in Basel (2023), O-Overgaden Institute for Contemporary Art in Copenhagen (2022), FuturDome Museum in Milano (2022), Kunstverein Göttingen (2022), Kunstforeningen GL Strand (2023), Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt (2017), and The National Gallery of Art in Copenhagen (2008). He has presented his music at many festivals and venues including STRØM Festival, Roskilde Festival, and CTM Festival.
ARTIFICIAL OPTIMISM PERFORMANCE PROGRAM
Artificial Optimism is an exhibition about the resonances of futurism in contemporary art, which can be experienced at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning from Aug. 24th – Oct. 27th 2024. During the exhibition period, performances and concerts by the exhibiting artists will be regularly held. Performance was central to futurism and the program is inspired by the evenings and afternoons that the futurists held between 1909 and 1914, where they presented combinations of readings, sound art, happenings, etc. Participation in the performance program is free when the ticket to the exhibition has been paid.
The exhibition’s performance program has been developed under the auspices of Toaster, a collaboration between Husets Teater and Den Frie.
Photo
Sebastian Gudmand Høyer
