Kontrapunkt
Because of the success of his plan for the rebuilding of Ground Zero the architect Daniel
Libeskind moved from Berlin to New York. On this occasion the Jewish Museum honors him with
a special exhibition called "Kontrapunkt". Besides the popular architecture of the
Jewish Museum also other realized
and unrealized projects are shown. According to his comprehensive way of
thinking Daniel Libeskind also added musical aspects while planning the
Jewish Museum. On one occasion he even called the building the missing third
act of the unfinished opera "Moses and Aaron" by Arnold Schönberg.
Composition > Variation > Performance - Void
According to its dramaturgy the installation also consists physically of three parts: A touchscreen offers the possibility to create a composition which is then varied and performed as a virtual architecture on a split projection surface.
Following the rules of Schönberg's music the visitor creates a sequence of tones in a "private" situation on a touchscreen. In this sequence all the twelve tones of the chromatic scale are each to be used exactly once. One can experiment with moveable graphics of Daniel Libeskind representing the various tones. While this is happening the protagonist and the people surrounding her can follow the variations (Reihe - Krebs - Umkehrung - Krebsumkehrung) created by the computer on a projection.
After using all the twelve tones of the chromatic scale according to the rules of the twelve-tone music the visitor can bring the sequence to performance: At first the variations will play one after the other and thereby be translated into spatial form. After that they play polyphonically and form a virtual architecture which sounds finally and end in a - VOID.
Setting
"Composing the Lines" is part of an overall concept which contains two installations. An explaining module consisting of an interactive projection on a table (designed by Tobias Schmidt and Simon Häcker) which explains details of the building and states quotations is integrated in one room together with the free interpretation depicted here.
Images
Movies
Composing the Lines Quicktime (800KB)
Credits
Concept: Ralph Ammer, Joachim Sauter
Design and programming: Ralph Ammer
Consultation: Christine Zahn
Project Management: Gert Monath
Client: Jüdisches Museum Berlin