Das Haus

1990

Material / Technique: black and white photography, acrylic glass, pressboard, electronic controls, light-emitting diodes, loudspeakers, 3 audio tracks

Description: "Seeing objects as independent entities and not as instruments fascinates me. I develop systems that use random generators to vary unpredictable sequences of light, color, and sound. Tactile communication with the recipient is not planned anymore." (Walter Giers, 1997) [1]
A black-and-white apartment block with uniform rows of windows. What is hidden behind the drawn curtains of the building can only be guessed at. But Walter Giers’ works are rarely about exclusively visual insights. In his work »Das Haus« [The House], slender circuits, diodes, and loudspeakers embellish the sound object of the media artist. Depending on the lighting situation, a random generator produces seemingly random sounds. Flashing lights and three alternating sound tracks thus convey the impression that the object has an unpredictable life of its own, with which the work – as a quasi-autonomous object – casts a spell over its viewers. One of the most important pioneers of electronic art, Walter Giers works on the borderline between music, visual art, and technology by transforming photography, sculpture, and electronic elements into light and sound artworks.

[1] Walter Giers, in »Electronic Art«, exh.cat. (Stuttgart: Galerie Edith Wahlandt, 1997), p. 9.