APPARATUM

From August 4–12, the ZKM presents the interactive installation »APPARATUM«, allowing visitors to create their own electroacoustic music. The installation draws from the heritage of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio designed by the panGenerator collective (pangenerator.com) as commissioned by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

The spatial form of the installation has been inspired by aesthetics of the famous »Black Studio« (the Studio’s headquarters) designed by Oskar Hansen. Its minimalism and specific construction solutions correspond directly with Hansen’s concept and aesthetics characteristic for equipment of that time, which allows for electroacustic music to be created.

As for its functionality and sound qualities, the object touches upon the works of Bogusław Schaeffer, one of the composers associated with the PRES, specifically his Symphony of Electronic Music. As one of its unique features, the composer used a graphic notation, where each symbol stands for a specific sound quality and includes guidelines for the sound engineer.

The original concept of Schaeffer has served as a starting point for the panGenerator collective, which has translated it into an interactive form, allowing everyone to compose their own electroacustic piece by means of an intuitively touchable interface. Referring to Schaeffer’s original notation, the symbols arranged as part of an interactive graphic score, are transformed into guidelines regulating the work of electromechanical, fully analogue sound generators. They use both magnetic tape, the key medium used by the Studio, and solutions to compose analogue sound by means of movable optical elements.

By combining a digital interface and analogue features of the sound generating equipment, a unique opportunity has opened up to spread the idea and atmosphere of PRES to wide audiences in a modern and accessible way.