Blinman is the highest elevation village in South Australia. The peak of the sparse and uninhabited mountain on which the village is located reveals an endless view of the surroundings. In a steady fluctuation of diverse techniques of live play on the cello and recordings played on the loud speakers, and their mutual influencing, the composition “Blinman” for violoncello and electronic media by Johannes S. Sistermanns continually re-explores the listening space as possible living environment and in this way questions the borders, or the horizon, of one’s (own) listening. The digital score for cellist Friedrich Gauwerky comprises three monitors displaying videos with nocturnal infrared recordings, the gradients of distant mountain peaks, cloud formations, horizons, and geological earth surfaces of South Australia’s outback. In this way, “Blinman” makes the audience an “ear-witness” of a vast, sparse, Australian landscape, which transforms in a medial, electro-acoustic spatial-composition for the Klangdom [Sound Dome].

Johannes S. Sistermanns "Blinman"
(2009, premiere of the Klangdom version)
16-channel composition for Klangdom, Transducer,
Video score, violoncello, live electronics, and sound direction

Friedrich Gauwerky violoncello
Yvonne Mohr 3-video channel
Sebastian Schottke sound engineering
Johannes S. Sistermanns live sound direction

Organization / Institution

ZKM

Partners

hr2 Kultur

Sponsors

Kunststiftung NRW