Tuning In -
4 Installations For The Lucklum Manor 2022
A dialogue between sound and architectural space at a remarkable location, a four-winged complex of the former "Deutschordenskommende" in Lucklum on the Elm in the "Harz" foothills, a centuries-old conversion with an integrated Roman church.
My presentation is an attempt to create a new atmospheric situation through implanted sounds in order to enable a changed experience of architecture: A rebuilt area becomes a sound space, an entrance area becomes an audio-visual entrance. The lantern of a church tower becomes a sound source high above, connecting inside and outside. And a sound sculpture inside the church as a multi-sensory event.
Video: Rüdiger Spott, Spottlight Köln
Entrance
The side entrance of the manor as a narrow entrance passage to the courtyard. On the ceiling of the passage is a fabric covering exactly the entire ceiling. Behind it and invisible are 16 sources of sound, which distribute a rather quiet but rapidly changing sound impulse under the entire fabric covering. This overhead impulse is an irritation set for the short path into the courtyard: short events, extremely mobile and unpredictable in their jumps.
A brief moment of audible movement in many directions and my own linear impulse while passing through.
Courtyard
Under the eaves on two buildings of the complex located at right angles to each other, there are 16 speakers. The arrangement is irregular and condenses in the direction of the corner opposite the entrance. The construction and appearance of the speakers is rather inconspicuous and adapts to the buildings- similar to a building detail belonging to the ensemble. The spatial development of sound by the installation corresponds to the visual arrangement of the speakers. From the corner of the building and diagonally into the enclosed space, a slow direction of listening emerges until the entire enclosed physical space is perceivable as sound.
The sounds move in waves, quietly rising and falling in the resonance of the reflecting walls. A different situation is created in a previously empty space, a special atmospheric quality through listening close to the structure.
Church Tower
The church tower forms a counterpoint to the auditory impression in the courtyard. The lantern, built as an octagon, has eight openings, two of which serve as sources of sound. The one facing the courtyard has a pendant facing the opposite direction, to the outside, in the direction of the village.
The sounds from the tower enrich the acoustic processes within the courtyards enclosure. Coming from a distance, they extend the acoustic image, audibly into the surroundings in irregular intervals and acoustically delimit the comprehensibility of the building structure.
Interior Church
In the interior of the church, centrally located in the direction of the altar, stands a sculptural cuboid form made of black plate. On the entire upper surface of the cuboid lies a gray-black felt. The sculpture, which functions simultaneously as a seat or bench, is permanently set into a slight but perceptible vibration by a deep frequency. In addition, the metal body is tempered and radiates a slight warmth. The aim is to achieve maximum physicality in the auratic staging of the sacred space, an individual presence of the body in the moment of sitting down and pausing.
Ulrich Eller responds to the complex furnishings of the manor church - especially the emblematics with its 156 symbols and 210 Latin inscriptions - with a minimalist sound sculpture: low frequencies emanate from a gray corpus. The dark gray felt surface of the sculpture invites you to sit down and appeals to all senses, as the seat vibrates and is warmed to body temperature. Changes in position and additional people sitting down also change the sound. One's own body becomes a resonating space. Physicality in the sacred space.
Elisabeth Vorderwülbecke
The experiential content of sitting as a conscious moment of presence.
Photos l/r: Torben Laib
Gray cube h 50 cm, w 140 cm, d 60 cm, felt l 140 cm, w 60 cm, transducer, frequency generator, heat lamps, cable, electricity.