6800 Watt (Akt)
Photo, powered speakers (no input)
2018

The starting point for the development of 6800 Watt (Akt) was the performance Imponderabilia by Abramović/Ulay from 1977. In this regard, it could be seen as a kind of reenactment within a technological and sound-related setting. Herein, I was interested in how it would be possible to transpose a sense of nudity and a feeling of discomfort or danger into that context. The installation consists of a photograph of the original performance and six active speakers, positioned accordingly to the original setting. The internal amplifiers of those speakers are turned on at the highest possible volume, but without any kind of input. Therefore, when standing in between the speakers, it is possible to hear the internal device-noise of the amplifiers, a very soft white noise imperceivable from a distance.

I thought of this device-noise as the sound of a musical body (the speaker), that is stripped of its sonic clothes, the input (e.g. music), that usually masks this noise. A quiet and intimate sound, that transports a feeling of error and vulnerability. A sound, that is however perceivable only at a point, where it does signal a potential for volumes so extreme, that they could easily damage ones hearing at this close range. 6800 watt is the amount of watts of all speakers combined, the German word "Akt" means both an act (as in action or as a sequence of a theatre play) and an artistic depiction of a nude body.