Week, 2012 (by CEVDET EREK)
mono sound, 3 min, sound system, 1 folded horn, 2×3-way loudspeaker, 30 band graphic equalizer, amplifiers, crossover, white molton, aluminium, truss system, wood. exhibition view at Kunsthalle Basel, 13 January to 4 March, 2012
photo © WFW

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HANNAH WEINBERGER, Grand Opening Soundtrack, 5 min.

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When You Leave, Walk Out Backwards, So I’ll Think You’re Walking In, 2012 (by HANNAH WEINBERGER), exhibition view at Kunsthalle Basel

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Poster When You Leave, Walk Out Backwards, So I’ll Think You’re Walking In
photo © WFW

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Right now, the Kunsthalle Basel is showing two solo shows – When You Leave, Walk Out Backwards, So I’ll Think You’re Walking In by HANNAH WEINBERGER and Week by CEVDET EREK – which deal with ephemeral formats such as live sound and performance. Both are immersive experiences where music and sound fill the exhibition space and their visual impact derives solely from the arrangement of loudspeakers while curtains installed alongside the walls assure the absorption of echoes.

One of the artist presented is CEVDET EREK (see above), a Turkish artist who studied architecture at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Istanbul and who has also been involved since early on in Istanbul’s music scene.

His installation, entitled Week (2012), features a totemic column of a sound-systemis located in the centre of the space. The beat (samples of acoustical drum sound) is stripped bare and functions as a diagram; rather than aural seduction taking control over the visitor’s body and soul, it is used as a simple, almost graphical representation, the minimum of sound. The sound of the piece is composed as an aural “grid” made of seven beats based on the unnatural and human-made division of the week, and its inner units – seven days. These seven days are played in several different versions combined in one loop, in EREK’s Week. Make sure to watch an excerpt here!

Swiss artist HANNAH WEINBERGER has produced twenty-two hours of sound for the installation. Eleven loops are played on the eleven channels the artist installed in the galleries and, given their varying lengths the result is a spatial layout of sound, constantly shifting through the exhibition spaces. The Grand Opening Soundtrack (above) devised as an invitation to the opening offers a foretaste of the various loops in the show.

When You Leave, Walk Out Backwards, So I’ll Think You’re Walking In by HANNAH WEINBERGER is on view until March 18th, 2012 while Week by CEVDET EREK finishes on Sunday March 4th, 2012. This is not to be missed!