Wolfgang Oelze

2015 | 16:9 HD-Video, dual channel installation and performance for two musicians, electric bass and electric guitar, stereo, loop | 00:14:18 (excerpts)
On two simultaneous projection screens we see a composition of movie scenes that represent technical failures. Either from the context of the films alone (or a new combination of film scenes) we witness different situations in which the protagonists are struggling with some kind of malfunction.
What seemed to appear as commonplace has become defamiliarized matter. For example, dystopian telephone calls, a piano in the desert, dental crowns left over from alien-snatched humans, or several forms of entangling tubes and ropes.
The soundtracks of the two video projections can only be heard indirectly. What we hear in the room are the live sounds coming from an electric guitar and an electric bass guitar that hang from the ceiling. Two tiny loudspeakers play back the audio tracks from each video channel. Their sounds are transferred via the strings of each instrument, and then amplified over large, rock music amplifiers. Additional to each of the two video soundtracks, two drum tracks have been generated from the original film scores and dialogs. The sound characteristics of pitch and length have been processed to drum beats. These drum tracks are corresponding to each of the video sound tracks and have been added simultaneously, but spatially separated, to the other respective stereo channel. Ultimately, the combination of guitar, bass and drums represent the basic “rock band” formation.

In addition to being shown in an exhibition context, the sounds made from loudspeakers and instruments may be varied through a performance by live musicians.

Performance excerpts from Puls – Frappant Gallery / berlin-raum für Videokunst, Hamburg, 2015. With Rudi Burr (bass) and Florian Dürrmann (guitar).