Ro-Dron, Motorhorn und Knackdosen
Christof Schläger
Immersive Sound Installation / Installative Concerts of the swim Series / November 9–19, 2023
A futuristic background noise of sound machines! Instrument maker and sound artist Christof Schläger brings three of his devices to life at ZiMMT:
The “Ro-Dron” – a spiral tube with 52 strings that are activated by servos and motors to create a drone. Alongside it plays the “Motorhorn”, which uses air magnets to sound its four bells. The name of the rhythmically structuring “Knackdosen” (“crack boxes”) hints at their acoustic character.
All instruments – now forming an orchestra of around 50 sound machines – were designed and built by Schläger himself. He works in a hall at the former Teutoburgia coal mine in Herne, in Germany’s Ruhr region, which provides enough space for his large (sound) sculptures. He uses industrial materials such as sewing machine motors, heating valves, pipes, and ship horns.
All sounds are produced acoustically through mechanical movement or air-pressure vibrations and are not amplified.
Schläger composes his own pieces for these instruments, which he calls “sound scenes” – from meditative and atmospheric to rhythmically driving, with references to natural and industrial sounds. He has written several pieces for the trio of Ro-Dron, Motorhorn, and Knackdosen, which will be performed at ZiMMT. Each performance lasts about 15 minutes.
Christof Schläger
Christof Schläger was born in 1958 and studied process engineering and civil engineering. He lives in Herne and in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. In the early 1980s, he began creating his first sound performances and also initiated cultural projects in the Ruhr region, such as the Art-Forest-Park Herne. With his unique orchestra of machines, he has traveled almost all over the world, finding his place both in art exhibitions and at techno festivals.
swim 2023
With the series swim, ZiMMT invites audiences in 2023 to (re)discover their surroundings through the act of listening. Ten concerts and four sound installations offer acoustic experiences that help sharpen our awareness of the environment—either individually or collectively.
Sixteen local and international artists are part of swim. Many of them work with everyday sounds and field recordings, thematically exploring the human-made changes in our acoustic environment during the current era—the Anthropocene. Others focus on psychoacoustic effects. All of them create immersive sound spaces.
Through three-day microresidencies, the artists are given the opportunity to develop their works on-site using 3D audio technology, allowing for new experimental approaches. All concerts are streamed live in high-quality binaural audio—offering a spatial sound experience both on location and worldwide.
