Sabine Schäfer

Sabine Schäfer (*1957, Karlsruhe) is a German media artist, composer, sound artist, and pioneer in the field of computer-controlled spatial sound installations.

Toward the end of her studies in composition at the Karlsruhe University of Music, the artist began developing walk-through sound installations and objects featuring a multitude of speakers through which sound moves in a computer-controlled manner. The intention was for visitors to be surrounded by moving sound, just as they would be in nature. As part of the technical implementation of this aesthetic approach, the first prototypes for a custom digital-analog spatial sound control system were developed between 1989 and 1991. Beginning in 1992, the artist used this system to realize installation-based, computer-controlled 16- to 24-channel audio compositions internationally as part of her art project »TopoPhonien.« For this pioneering achievement, she was honored with the Siemens Media Art Prize in 1993. The ZKM archive includes video and audio documentation—particularly of the historical sound installations—as well as interviews with the artist and radio broadcasts. Accompanying texts and photographic documents provide context for the material.

From 1998 to 2013, she collaborated with composer and sound artist Joachim Krebs (1952–2013) as the artist duo <sabine schäfer // joachim krebs> (from 2009 onward, <SA/JO>). As part of their collaborative work, they developed electroacoustic compositions based on »EndoMicroSonoScopy.« The sonic microcosm of bird songs, insects, and amphibians becomes audible in their soundscapes. In their essay »Deleuze und der Sampler als Audio-Mikroskop,« they describe their aesthetic foundation. They first translated their sound aesthetics into light art with the audiovisual installation »MicroSonical Shining Biospheres No. 1« (2009).

Through a special collaboration between the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe (BLB) and the ZKM, the artist’s joint works are documented as follows: The BLB archive (Joachim Krebs estate) contains all paper documents, including original manuscripts, while the ZKM archive provides access to numerous video and audio recordings.

Starting in the mid-2010s, the artist began developing—in addition to her installation works—»sounding images,« or so-called interactive graphics with audio QR codes. Decontextualized nature photographs and scanning electron microscope images of microorganisms, paired with a butterfly-like QR code, form the visual basis for these works. Scanning the QR code plays a soundscape composed specifically for the image. A work from this series titled »Audio Biospheres Magenta« is part of the ZKM’s collection.