Works with Electromagnetic Induction by Christina Kubisch

Toward the end of the 1970s, I used the system of electromagnetic induction for my sound installations for the first time. As a principle of acoustic transmission, it is based on the sounds resulting from the mutual interaction of magnetic fields. These fields arise on the one hand from electrical wires traversing the room, in which sounds circulate, and on the other from headphones with magnetic coils, which I developed myself. This system, which I have constantly further developed technically and artistically, was the starting point for numerous sound installations realized all over the world since 1980. The basic idea of these sound spaces is to provide the viewer/listener access to his own individual spaces of time and motion. The musical sequences are experiencable in ever-new variations through the listener's motion. The visitor becomes a "mixer" who can put his piece together individually and determine the time frame for himself.

In the first installations, the visitors still had small cubes with built-in loudspeakers that had to be held up to their ears when they approached the fields of wires. Later, I fundatmentally improved the freedom of movement and tone quality by developing wireless headphones, with which one can move freely in space. Every movement, even a slight turn of the head, results in different sequences of tones.

This kind of interactivity, which may seem almost archaic today because it requires no computer programs, can also be realized across great spatial distances. Since the 1980s, I have realized countless induction works in gardens, castles, cellars, ruins, parks, churches, old factories, abandoned buildings, and also in museums and galleries. Each work is at the same time a visual and acoustic exploration of the respective site.

Since the mid-1980s, I have added light as a compositional tool in many works, for example in the installation "Skylines" at the documenta 8, Kassel or in the underground installation "Klang Fluß Licht Quelle" on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.

ELECTRICAL WALKS

The magnetic headphones with their built-in coils respond to electrical fields in the environment. At first I tried to filter the soft hum of the electrical wires out of the headphones. Then, in 2003, the constant increase and spread of "unwanted" electrically-produced sounds triggered a new cycle of works: Electrical Walks. With special, sensitive headphones, the acoustic perceptibility of aboveground and underground electrical currents is thereby not suppressed, but rather amplified.

The palette of these noises, their timbre and volume vary from site to site and from country to country. They have one thing in common: they are ubiquitous, even where one would not expect them. Light systems, transformers, anti-theft security devices, surveillance cameras, cell phones, computers, elevators, streetcar cables, antennae, navigation systmes, automated teller machines, neon advertising, electric devices, etc. create electrical fields that are as if hidden under cloaks of invisibility, but of incredible presence.

ELECTRICAL WALKS is an invitation to a very special kind of stroll in cities (or elsewhere) With a special magnetic headphone and a map of the environs, upon which the possible routes and especially interesting electrical fields are marked, the visitor can set off on his own or in a group. The perception of everyday reality changes when one listens to the electrical fields; what is accustomed appears in a different context. Nothing looks the way it sounds. And nothing sounds the way it looks.