Search - Christina Kubisch :: Invisible/Inaudible: 5 Electrical Walks

Christina Kubisch is a first generation sound artist of the highest order. She may now be most famously known for her Electrical Walks, which she started in 1981.Invisible/Inaubible: 5 Electrical Walks is her first collection of compositions utilizing material recorded during Electrical Walks, public walks with custom-made sensitive wireless headphones by which aboveground and underground electromagnetic fields are detected, amplified, and made audible. The transmission of sound is accomplished by a built-in set of induction coils that respond to the electromagnetic waves in our environment. The palette of these noises, their timbre, and their volume vary from site to site and country to country. They have one thing in common: they are ubiquitous, even where one would not expect them. Wireless communication systems, anti-theft security devices, surveillance cameras, cell phones, streetcar cables, automated teller machines--all these things create electrical fields that are hidden under cloaks of invisibility, but have incredible presence. Electrical Walks is an invitation to a special kind of investigation of city centers (or other locations). With the magnetic headphones and a map of the environs, upon which possible routes and especially interesting electrical fields are marked, the visitor can set off on his own or in a group. The five compositions on this CD are based on numerous live recordings of electromagnetic fields, made between 2003 and 2007, in the cities of Birmingham, Chicago, Taipei, Paris, Bremen, Riga, Tokyo, Madrid, London, New York, Berlin and others. The sounds have not been altered electronically or by other means.