Peter Vogel
Römischer Turm
1989
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn ; photo © ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, photo: Tobias Wootton
- Artist / Artist group
- Peter Vogel
- Title
- Römischer Turm
- Year
- 1989
- Category
- Sculpture
- Audio
- Material / Technique
- electronic circuits, light sensors, loudspeakers
- Dimensions / Duration
- 161 x 31 x 32 cm
- Collection
- ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
- Description
- The »Roman Tower« is an interactive sound sculpture that is activated only through the presence of visitors. Anyone approaching the work enters into a dialogue with it. Light sensors register shadows and translate these impulses into sound events. The sounds are projected into the space through five round loudspeakers at the top of the sculpture—like the battlements of a tower. Every change in movement alters the acoustic response. This principle of stimulus and reaction lies at the core of the artistic thinking of Peter Vogel. Trained as a physicist, Vogel was deeply engaged with cybernetics—the study of control and feedback processes. His sculptures process information: they receive signals from their surroundings and respond to them. Their behavior appears both rule-based and surprising. While the electronic structures are precisely defined, the audible result remains open and emerges in the moment. The »Roman Tower« is therefore more than an “instrument.” Vogel understood his works as “ironic allegories of relationships”—between people, between humans and machines, and between technology and society. The sculpture does not merely react; it seems to adapt and, at times, to resist control. Interaction is experienced as a reciprocal process rather than a one-sided act of command. No technical or musical knowledge is required. The work invites playful exploration through movement, stillness, and repetition. Experimentation gives rise to ever-changing sound constellations
Images
Peter Vogel, »Römischer Turm« [Roman Tower], 1989, electronic circuits, light sensors, loudspeakers, 161 x 31 x 32 cm, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn ; photo © ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, photo: Tobias Wootton
Peter Vogel, »Römischer Turm« [Roman Tower], 1989, electronic circuits, light sensors, loudspeakers, 161 x 31 x 32 cm, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn ; photo © ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, photo: Tobias Wootton
