Dynamische Akustische Forschung (DAF)
Floating Fragments (2021) links the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden with the sculpture Kniende (1944) by Ludwig Kasper, found in the public fountain Caracalla-Therme through a performative, sculptural-acoustic intervention. Both sites are enjoined by two actions: a collective procession from the fountain to the Kunsthalle at the opening of the exhibition, and from the Kunsthalle back to the fountain at the closing. Throughout the exhibition, the object created from the action generates itself as it crystallizes into a solid form, while the urban path between the two locations is dotted with QR codes that link to sound works capturing the fluidity and multiplicity of DAF’s collective audio archive. Various elementary fragments emerge in aggregate states of sound, sculpture, installation and performance, exploring the spectrum of references between the history of Baden‑Baden, local sites and conditions of artistic agency.
Exhibition
Interview
DAF took part in Conditions of a Necessity, The Exhibition with a sound installation and a performance that took place both at and between Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden and one of the local Spas, activating the city through a performative walking route. How were your projects collectively developed, and how are they linked?
The development process was a constant struggle against the circumstances that you mention in question 2. There are quite a few symbolisms in our work that relate to that topic. The Spa itself is a place of gathering (we ourself used the fountain in front of it), and BadenBaden owes its exitence to its thermal water. There is a very archetypal dichotomy between warmth and cold. In case of the development of our work, we were trying to overcome the freezing social relations, that were strongly felt during arduous hours of technically mediated conversations.
The title Conditions of a Necessity emerged from a very specific moment in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the first part of the project manifest as a multi-class gathering at Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden in which DAF also participated. How did your group arrive at a thematic angle of collective work during this period, and how did this evolve into the work presented during the exhibition? How did DAF navigate the difficulties of working collectively, in moments of physical distancing, and how did these conditions affect DAF’s practice as a collective?
There was quite a self-referential impetus to the whole thing. In a way what was asked of us was to perform collectivity in times were this was barely possible. It was like building without hands. And this, in a lucky turn, connected to an art-historical and situational anchor in the public space of Baden Baden,´. A sculpture by an artist named Ludwig Kasper named Knieende – a female read statue missing arms, right at the opening of the thermal veins that supplied the city its means of production.
The majority of the participants in this exhibition were students of university art classes, whereupon the invitation of the Kunsthalle, developed various approaches of working together. In the case of DAF, however, this was somewhat different, in the sense that although most of the members of DAF have at some point shared a class environment, it has always been a collective that exceeds the boundaries of the academy. Can you tell us about how DAF came together and evolved over the years, as well as its collective structure? What role does sound as a medium play in this collective making process?
If there was a difference, it was that there already was a practice of self-organization and collective work established in the group. This practice developed in working on diverse sound-related works in different personal constellation over the years, in which it developed. This brought about an intensive engagement with all the different group processes involved. How to confront hierarchies, how to handle the fluidity of the group and so on. Sound as a horizon lended itself quite well to this whole endeavour, due to its debordering and collaborative tendencies. The academy actually proved to be a possibility space that was enabling rather then limiting.
The connection between DAF and Baden‑Baden actually precedes Conditions of a Necessity. You have also taken part in the program of Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden in 2020, with public installations as well as performances. Can you talk about this collaboration with both Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden and your relation to the city of Baden‑Baden, and how this longer-term collaboration helped or hindered your collective practice in Conditions of a Necessity?
The Cooperation with Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden proved to be a learning experience for a lot of us, in which we found ourselves between institutionalization, profession and project development, and personal relations, all within the framework of mutual expectations, roles and public discourse. While, of course, this differs among the members of the group, we would say, that in general the time spent, the experiences made and the work done have built a certain relation between DAF and Kunsthalle Baden‑Baden, as well as with the city. This is especially the case since this relation was deepened by Kunsthalle Baden‑Badens generous offer, to use one of their spaces in an old library not only as storage, but also as a place for coming together.
Gathering
