Viola Spezzata

"Viola spezzata" (1999) by Gerhard Eckel (*1962) is a sound sculpture inscribed into the exhibition context of the Kunstmuseum Bonn, where it can be experienced from June 2nd to July 11th 1999. Surrounded by visual artwork it seeks the confrontation between the visual and the auditory senses. Being a hybrid object in itself, with a static visual and a dynamic sonic appearance, it provokes an unusual synaethetic experience drawing its energy from the tension between its visual and auditory aspects.
Every hour, the "Viola Spezzata" projects a variable sound composition for about nine minutes into the museum space, unfolding differently every time is appears. Dense sound textures are produced, mouvements inherent to the sounds created by viola player Vincent Royer are magnified, spatialized, and fragmentized ("spezzato" in Italian), the inner tensions of the sounds are intensified. The material resistance of the instrument in the chaotic process of tone production is one of the leitmotifs of the composition.
The linear arrangement of the loudspeakers combined with a special computer-controlled sound projection technique allows for rendering animated sound objects of compelling vividness. Usually visitors will experience these virtual objects by strolling around the sculpture, relating to it with their bodies in space. But they may also sit down closely to it in order to concentrate on details.
Music is perceived in an open but still focused situation that is much less constraining than the concert ritual. The exquisite architectural setting and the carefully designed permanent exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bonn offers the visitors a perfect context for experiencing the emergent relationships between visual artwork, sound and space.
"Viola spezzata" is a further development of the kinetic sound sculpture project "Stele", which was realized with the support of ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. The production of both sound sculptures and the installation in the Kunstmuseum Bonn was supported by the GMD - German National Reseach Center for Information Technology in Sankt Augustin, where Gerhard Eckel is working since 1996.
Excerpts
The following three excerpts where recorded at the Kunstmuseum Bonn on May 10th 1999 during a test installation. The AIFF files are in 22.05 kHz stereo format. The MPEG files are in 44.1 kHz stereo format.

1'16" - aiff (6.6 Mb) - mpeg (1160 Kb)

1'09" - aiff (5.8 Mb) - mpeg (1050 Kb)

1'03" - aiff (5.3 Mb) - mpeg (960 Kb)