05/12/2020-09/01/2021, Annexe 22/ Esch/ LU

2020-21

(video credits: Paulius Sokolovas)

“Noise” is perceived subjectively, everyone experiences noise differently. In Nika Schmitt's work Radau Radar, sound reflections in interiors are reshaped by moving physical surfaces and made audible to the visitors. The idea for this work arose during her artist residency “sonic explores” in Dakar, Senegal, and became part of her ongoing research into cyclic and repetitive phenomena. More specifically, with her kinetic installations, Nika Schmitt examines the effects of rhythmic stimuli on our spatial orientation and our ability to estimate time.

A feedback noise can be heard through a number of speakers and microphones installed in the exhibition. The frequency is continuously reflected and realigned by a rotating parabolic dish that is suspended in the middle of the room. As a result of the installation, the reverberation encounters changing conditions on its way through the exhibition space, which means that the pitch and the rhythmic structure of the frequency change constantly. Different types of microphones record the acoustic conditions over time and feed the signals separately to the individual loudspeakers in real time. The visitors can perceive a kind of "Chinese whisper” effect, better known under the popular children's game "Telephone" or "Silent Mail". Changing sound sources, moving light reflections and moving elements create a spatial composition that reinvents the acoustic and visual experience of the existing interior.