Kontakt is a participatory performances and installation by Carolin Schnurrer, exploring the power of physical touch and sound as a new means of communication in a networked, but atomised society.
Challenging the boundaries between the individual and the collective by investigating touch and rhythm, human bodies are turned into momentary and unpredictable conductors: Sound is passed through skin and bodies behave like a collective intelligence.
Kontakt is based on the idea of modular synthesizer. A module has been designed to connect two humans through wristbands, who are triggering, changing or creating sounds, depending on who is touching who and how much pressure they exert. Their skin gets turned into a musical interface. and can be used on its own to create sounds.
The use of analogue media establishes heterogenous connections on an affective and sensory plane. Reflecting on this present state of degeneration, analogue materials like skin, metal and electricity are employed in a subjective conscious experience to question the boundaries between the physical and the digital, between truth and belief.
The installation encourages visitors to experience Kontakt with strangers. It is an ongoing research on how quickly humans can overcome barriers to communicate through the impact of physical touch, the correlation between touch and sound as well as vibrations.
Kontakt is currently getting developed during a residency with Haroon Mirza.
Past and future performances and collaborations include:
Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act
14 Sep – 17 Nov 2019, Australian Center for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
COS x Serpentine Park Nights: Klein, Lifetime
6 Sep 2019, Serpentine Pavillion
Royal College of Art Graduate Show
29 June 2019 to 7 July 2019, RCA South Kensington
Royal College of Art Fashion Show
8 June 2019, Cork Street Galleries, Mayfair
@carropurrr
schnurrerc@gmail.com