Max Neuhaus

1999
Suspended Sound Line, 1999


Location: Lorrainestrasse 1, Bern, Switzerland Dimensions: 3 x 30 meters
Extant: 1999–Present. Collection: Kunst im öffentlichen Raum die Stadt Bern


Image: Max Neuhaus Drawings: Suspended Sound Line, 1999, Collection: The Estate of Max Neuhaus

Outside/Inside

A. The Suspension Bridge.  It is, first of all, in the form of an arch.  It crosses over a road and leads from the former site of a technical school to the new location.  Going from the old school, one  crosses under a white structure on which are attached the bridge's suspension cables. To the right is a park with a playground.  To the left is an apartment building.  The walk across, up one side, down another, takes about fifteen seconds.

The impact of this form lies in its contradiction to our assumptions about sound itself. Instead of sound being dispersed evenly, here we have a seeming impossibility: highly defined sound zones standing in free space without apparent source. This physical form and its contradictions are one element of this sound work; the other, of course, is the sounds themselves. 

Max Neuhaus, Notes for Suspended Sound Line, 1996.






Image: Max Neuhaus, Bern 1999

Pasted Graphic.pdf

              

             By Dasha Dekleva, Chicago 2003






 


In mid-1999, the millennium project's sponsor withdrew claiming new administrative policies and a focus on sports rather than culture. In May of 1999 Neuhaus' commission from Kunst im ˆffentlichen Raum, Stadt Bern, Suspended Sound Line, was inaugurated on the GIBB Campus at Lorrianstrassee 1-5.

Commissioned by Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Bern, The Suspension Bridge. 

-----