Heiko Wommelsdorf – Schall-Mauer
52
The left window front of spce | Muthesius is lined with acoustic insulation panels. Originally intended as hearing protection, the insulating panels now become a pattern in their own right, a rhythm of black foam pyramids.
A sound level meter—that versatile device used to measure the intensity of sound in an acoustic environment—represents the current decibel reading as a numeric value in real time—loud or soft, high or low, intermittent or continuous.
Passers-by become part of the installation with their noises, as does the street noise that penetrates the room through the windows, and what is happening in the room. Although you can't see the inside, you can see its effect on the volume level. A passing bus enriches the composition of urban background noise with a bass line, while the noise of the ventilation systems transforms the staging of architectural material noise into a kind of drone music.
---------
Heiko Wommelsdorf (*1982) completed his bachelor's degree in media art at the Muthesius Kunsthochschule with Prof. Arnold Dreyblatt in 2009, and finished his studies as a master student with Prof. Ulrich Eller at the HfBK Braunschweig in 2012.
