Max Neuhaus

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1989
Time Piece, Kunsthalle Bern, 1990

12. Mai 1989 – 11. Januar 1990
- first full-scale Time Piece, commissioned by Kunsthalle Bern, extant until 1993

'The only work which has been realized on a city scale was in 1989 at the Kunsthalle in Bern where for a distance of one kilometer around the Kunsthalle I added a half-hourly sound character, a texture of sound, a continuous sound, which at every half hour disappeared.  It's a very interesting exercise for someone who has shaped sound for his whole life as I have; it's working on the other face of the coin.  It's shaping sound to shape a silence'. mn

Berlin / 26 May 1995



Doris von Drathen, "Max Neuhaus: Invisible Sculpture - Molded Sound", Parkett 35, 1993


Image: Invite Bern

Invite Archive Max Neuhaus Estate











NEUHAUS - TIME PIECES

 

THE CONCEPT OF USING SOUND TO FORM A COMMON MOMENT WITHIN A COMMUNITY, PERIODICALLY THROUGHOUT THE DAY,

IS AN ANCIENT ONE. IT EXISTS IN PRESENT DAY SOCIETY

IN THE FORM OF CHURCH BELLS AND PUBLIC CLOCKS.

THE IDEA FOR THE TIME PIECES IS ABOUT FORMING THESE COMMON MOMENTS WITH SILENCE RATHER THAN SOUND.

 

 ----------

 

THE METHOD

THE CONCEPT IS REALIZED BY GRADUALLY CHANGING THE ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENT, AND THEN CREATING A SENSE OF SILENCE BY REMOVING THESE CHANGES.

THAT IS TO SAY, THE SOUNDS OF THE ENVIRONMENT ARE INDIVIDUALLY TRANSFORMED AS THEY OCCUR. THESE CHANGES ARE INTRODUCED GRADUALLY OVER A PERIOD OF MINUTES SO THAT THEY ARE NOT NOTICED DIRECTLY, BUT THEY SUBTLY ESTABLISH A DIFFERENT OR IMAGINARY SENSE OF PLACE,

ACOUSTICALLY.

ONCE ESTABLISHED, THIS PLACE IS REMOVED, JUXTAPOSING THE IMAGINARY WITH THE REAL AND EXPOSING THE REAL,

IN A NEW WAY, AS A MOMENT OF QUIET.

 .

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE SOURCES OF SOUND REMAIN UNSEEN, AND THAT THE WORK BECOMES A COMMON OCCURRENCE -- A SUBTLE PRESENCE, THERE AND AT THE SAME TIME NOT THERE -- NOTICED, FORGOTTEN .. AND RE-FOUND.

 

MAX NEUHAUS

 

_E SAME TIME NOT THERE -- NOTICED, FORGOTTEN . 



 

jean-christophe-ammann-notes-on-max-neuhaus-max-neuhaus-sound-installation-kunsthalle-basel-1983

The first installation in 1989 at the Kunsthalle was built as a temporary installation to demonstrate the concept  of Time Piece. m.n.