IMA | lab 23: Marko Timlin

As part of the 23^rd edition of the IMA | lab Series, German-Finish sound artist, composer and musician Marko Timlin will present his current work.Timlin's musical career began in the early 1990s, in London, before his subsequent move to former East Berlin, where he became part of the alternative electronic music scene there. In Berlin, he worked together with groups such as »Laub«, »rope« and the »17 Hippies«, and founded the band »tritop«, one of Germany’s first live drum 'n' bass-bands.

Today, he develops his own electronic and digital musical instruments which he plays regularly at concerts. In addition to his concert activities, he designs sound installations, composes computer, theater and dance music, and holds workshops and seminars in colleges and universities.

His works are characterized by the imaginative, and often entirely alienated and distorted use of technology, since it is precisely such system failures that frequently lead to the most interesting results. Many of his sound installations and musical instruments consist of components not originally conceived for musical use, or were discarded elements which he fished out of trash cans and into which he breathed new life.
Technology is often developed to replace human manpower, and to produce and sell commercial products quickly and cheaply. Timlin, by contrast, is convinced that the artistic application of technology is socially significant: it may be exemplary for a peaceful and enriching cooperation between man and machine, and not for a dystopian, oppressive and dehumanizing relationship.

Marko Timlin lives and works as a freelance artist in Helsinki, Finland.