1996
Circle
performed sound installation
(version 1: B-Movie, Hamburg, Germany;
version 1.1: Dampfzentrale, Bern; Shedhalle, Zürich, Switzerland)

Technical Description
Circle is an instrument on which a performer can play acoustic feedbacks that occur between two microphones and eight loudspeakers in a circle. The gestures, that appear by feeling one’s way to stimulating acoustic positions in the space, are transmitted into video images by cameras mounted on the performer’s wrists.

Thoughts
The function of Circle is basically that of an interface, a “connection machine”. Making the acoustic feedbacks audible within this setup can be seen as the act of extracting from the space a form of energy distilled into sound. The feedbacks are modulated from a constant sound potential which can best be described as “grey noise”.

See also Tokyo Circle, which is roughly based on Circle.

Video stills, left: Louis von Adelsheim