Homo lusus – the played human

Whereas up to now it was the human being who played with electronic sounds, in this work it is the electronic system that plays with the human being. In the concert »Homo lusus« eight singers receive electronic signals via headphones from a conducting machine by Walter Giers.

The singers reproduce the impulses sent to them via microphones electronically amplified and partly alienated. The audience hears only the result produced by the singers. The singers themselves do not hear the resulting combinations, but react exclusively to the technical signs of the machine. »Homo lusus« was commissioned by Süddeutscher Rundfunk and premiered at the Kunstgebäude in Stuttgart on February 6, 1980.

With his electronic light-sound artworks, the artist, designer and jazz musician Walter Giers (1937–2016), who stands in the tradition of kinetic art, is one of the most important representatives of media art from Baden-Württemberg. He conceived the vocal performance »Homo lusus« together with the pianist and composer Mick Baumeister.

The new performance of »Homo lusus« takes place in the context of the exhibition »Walter Giers. Electronic Art«.