Interview with Natalie Bewernitz and Marek Goldowski

+Commissioned by Rhizome.org+
Interview with Natalie Bewernitz and Marek Goldowski,
by Miguel Amado

Cologne-based German artists Natalie Bewernitz & Marek Goldowski were recently featured in 'Volume,' a group show at Brooklyn's 3rd Ward that explored sound, 3D animation, and video as privileged media in contemporary art. Their participation in this exhibition followed a 6-month residency at New York's Location One, where they developed a new multi-stage project, 'Unveiled Presence (Secret Sounds),' the second part of which was on view in 'Volume.' As illustrated by this piece, Bewernitz & Goldowski employ technology in different yet significant ways to create emotionally powerful interactive installations often involving computer-based self-generating sound. Here, Rhizome Curatorial Fellow Miguel Amado interviews them about their practice.


MA: Tell me about your background…

NB/MG: We both studied at Cologne's Academy of Media Art and since 2000 we have been working together. Natalie has focused on photography, performance, and video while Marek has been involved in experimental sound related to theatre and film for about 15 years. We merged our skills and interests to develop a practice that touches these aspects, but is specifically concerned with the potential of sound as an artistic medium within an art context.

MA: You completed a residency at Location One in New York in the beginning of this year. What do you think of the New York art scene, especially in relation to sound, which plays a significant role in your practice?

NB/MG: New York has, of course, a dynamic art scene, with its museums, hundreds of galleries, and thousands of artists. It's difficult to stay aware of everything that is going on. But New York also has a strong lively experimental music scene. Usually, sound artists float between the art and/or music fields yet this is not what we felt in New York, as sound is truly respected as an artistic medium and artists with different backgrounds use it very legitimately.

MA: How was the residency?

NB/MG: The residency constituted a very exciting experience. Location One's staff has helped us a lot, introducing us to the New York art scene, with its different institutions, for example, and bringing us together with numerous fellow artists, curators, and critics. To be able to step into dialogue with them allowed us to examine our practice, as they provided fresh perspectives on our body of work and that gave us a different point of view on our projects.

MA: You have had the chance to develop a new project while you've been in New York. Can you discuss it?

NB/MG: We created a site-specific installation inspired in Marcel Duchamp's 'A bruit secret.' We were interested in recording what we call the secret sounds of the rooftop water towers found all over New York. For us, they look like Duchamp's assisted readymade and our starting point was he thought when he made the piece in 1916. We selected four different water towers around the Manhattan bridge. They are located as four corner points in a rectangular shape, two on one side and two on the other side. Their location would provide a rich and enclosed soundscape on which to make a recording–from all four water towers at the same time. However, it took a long time to get permission to make the recordings on the water towers, so we decided to start a second chapter of 'secret sounds' which has to do with the crying and whining sound of the subways. This work, 'Unveiled Presence (secret sounds 2),' was shown at Location One's group show featuring the artists in residence that was on view last February and March.

MA: In terms of its presentation, how does this work operate?

NB/MG: The piece is built up with a pair of nickeled wires, which are about an about 300 inches long and which are put under tension between two walls that function as fixing points. Both of these wires are parallel to each other and at the same height, about 30 inches. On the floor, under the wires, are mounted four loudspeakers, which are connected all together with a thin wire. The loudspeakers are playing back a composition of the crying and whining sounds of the subways. The vibrations on the wire are picked up with sensors and fed back into the mixer with the composition, the feedback sound merging with the similar-sounding subway composition.

MA: The piece is very allegorical…

NB/MG: The pair of nickeled wires alludes to the subway rails that, along with the vibrations, symbolize the veins of the city. Thus the trains act as the bloodflow under the skin of the streets and buildings. The crying metal sound provides a lively component to the abstract rendering of the installation and, as the well-known metaphor about New York puts it, the feedback suggests a never-sleeping organism.

MA: When will you conclude the first stage of this project?

NB/MG: The first stage is still under development and we are currently searching for an adequate visualization of the water towers. We are planning to combine the two chapters of 'secret sounds' in one large-scale installation that will become an abstract model of the soundscape of the DUMBO area around the Manhattan bridge.

MA: How does this work relate to your overall practice?

NB/MG: In other works, the collecting of 'real,' non manipulated material is very essential. We arrange this material with both computer-based techniques and analog/mechanic processes. This diverse use of technology, with high-tech and low-tech components, tends to be very advanced. For example, we utilize processes ranging from microphone field recording to multi-channel granular synthesis. This piece resorts to found sound and vibration recordings, which are presented in a minimal low-tech installation with a spatial dimension. In another work, 'The lightness…' (2002), we created a fictional farewell message of a female suicide assassin in which the mechanical granulation of the video picture through the sound of the voice is very much in this direction. We often work with the shredding of conventional media. 'EPG' (2003) works on a similar basis; namely, with the dissipation of a field recording of an interview in thousands of small samples, just to rearrange it with a computer-based mouth interface. Simulation is also an important topic, which is contained in works like 'Sweet Life' (2003) or 'SINUSINUS' (2002).

Dismantling, slicing, translating, rearranging, simulating, the failure of simulation: This is a very common structural sequence in our projects. Perception in both bodily and intellectual terms, as well as its relation to cultural codes, connects the basic components of our works, as we theoretically and practically explore the question of how a person can be mapped with his/her characteristics, his/her existence and the related peculiarities of his/her identities. Tracing the possibilities and limits of depicting the individual personality–its physical, spiritual, and psychological dimensions–is in the focus of our attention. Furthermore, our projects deal with the awareness of space and sound in the form of both interactive and passive multi-channel installations. This was the case in 'Windtuner' (1999/2004), 'Encounter One' (2001), and 'SINUSINUS.' Against this backdrop, we work with computer-based self-generating sound creation in real time (e.g. MAX/MSP), as well as the manipulation of the audio components within installations utilizing sensorial and other external controls. In some recent projects, we have been integrating independent sound systems in live performances in order to explore their instrumental character–as in 'Encounter One' (2001) and 'EPG' (2003.

MA: What are you working on, now, and what are your future projects?

NB/MG: We are preparing an exhibition in China. This project will be part of the:artist:network NY's SURGE at the 798 Art Festival in Beijing. We will show 'The lightness…' in a Mandarin-spoken version, specific to the local context. We will also develop a performance of 'EPG' with sound collected in Beijing. A controlling interface will be used for granulating field recordings that we will extensively make in Beijing. The exhibition will then travel to major museums in Shanghai and Shenzhen. We are very excited about this show and look forward to visiting China.