03/10/2021 – 17/10/2021,

ton not. not ton. Florian Bräunlich, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann, Sven-Åke Johansson, Museum of No Art, Tomoko Sauvage, Saskia Senge, Gesa Troch, Hannah Weinberger

, Kunsthalle Münster

Concert, performance, exhibition: ton not. not ton is devoted to the sound of things—sound emerging in the form of acoustic interventions, in the objects arranged within the space and in one’s own imagination. The project plays with the immediacy of the performance and transience of the spectacle, with the recollection of an event and its lingering sound—an exploration of the before, the during and the after.

This intersection of object and sound offers both the immediate experience of perceiving the sounds and a sensual encounter with the physical material. While some of the artists and musicians elicit the sound from the objects directly at the moment of the performance, others merely refer to it via their works, directing attention to the performative quality of the object.

In her performances, the Japanese musician Tomoko Sauvage examines the sculpturality of sound, using various liquids, bowls, ceramics, light and underwater microphones. She not only incorporates the unpredictable dynamics inherent in the material into her compositions, but also uses chance as a compositional technique. A similar effect is achieved with the work Safe Crash (2020) by Florian Bräunlich, for which the drummer Sven-Åke Johansson improvises with drumsticks made of porcelain to carve out all aspects and parameters of the material’s sonority, making the objects audible in their quality.

In her work Untitled (2012/2015), Hannah Weinberger reverts to onomatopoeia, making the sound of language her material. The artist selected well over a hundred words that phonetically imitate an extra-linguistic sound phenomenon. The result is a whole compendium of onomatopoeia: flutter fisst fwoosh gasp swish swoosh whiff whoosh whizz whip whisper bam bang clang clank clap clatter click clink ding jingle screech slap thud thump bloop splash spray sprinkle squirt drip drizzle giggle growl grunt gurgle...

Saskia Senge explores in her work how different types of meaning can shift, how they can be transferred to objects or separated from them. Her work OH (2012) consists of the audio tracks ZERO and OH, which Senge had cut as a loop onto a dubplate of very short-lived quality, in contrast to the vinyl record. When played back, the sound quality deteriorates with each rotation – ZERO and OH turn into noise and gradually detach themselves from the sign. The permanent rotation and the scratching of the needle dissolves the audio track, leaving only the object behind.

And what is the Museum Of No Art about? Not paintings, but visions. Not sculptures, but empty rooms full of potential where Mona Steinwidder traces fabulous forms by means of synthesiser, clarinet and effects. Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann’s work Grand Piano (2013), for which the artist took fingerprints from the keys of a piano, provides evidence in the form of traces and relics, comparable with the testimony re-sulting from remnants along with their musicality in Safe Crash. Gesa Troch’s recently created ceramics refer to a noisy, perhaps even ecstatic experience. Her sculptures in the likeness of empty firework batteries silently allude to the blasting, glowing rite of passage and its emotionally ambivalent charge.

The space resonates—in a musical, artistical and imaginary way. Objects are made to sound, echoing memories: the moment when the keys of the piano were played or the fireworks were set off.

A collaboration between Kunsthalle Münster and dispari—a label and platform for auditory publications and performances at various locations, initiated and run by Ngu-yen Phuong-Dan.

Curators: Nguyen Phuong-Dan + Merle Radtke