Wolken sind die Wurzeln unserer Erde

Sound Sculpture – Itinerant Project

Soundtrack and recordings residencies, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany – 2021-2022
Residencies in Bauhaus, Dessau and Novalis Foundation, Oberwiederstedt, Germany – 2010
Grants : Kunststiftung des Landes and Coopération Région Val de Loire Centre

Wolken sind die Wurzeln unserer Erde | Clouds are the Roots of our Earth leads us in the footsteps of the German philosopher and writer Novalis who lived in Saxe-Anhalt where he also worked as a mining engineer. His life inspired the artist to create a piece that hovers between Heaven and Earth and which connects our deepest being to its spiritual aspirations. It takes the form of a cloud symbolizing Novalis’ constantly changing thought process. The viewer can sit comfortably inside the sculpture while an embedded audio system broadcasts a recording of excerpts from a collection of texts called Fragments. We can listen in turn to voices or silence, letting our minds wander whilst watching the clouds scudding by.

Materials – Dimensions: Cloud: Dim. 2.60 x 3.50 m / frosted stainless steel and metal paint, PVC cladding, audio system, button, speakers.
Soundtracks – Readings of Novalis’s Fragments in French and German by volunteers of all ages and nationalities.

Sound Sculpture – Itinerant Project

This work was originally designed to be moved to the towns that marked Novalis’ life: Oberwiederstedt, Wittenberg, Dürrenberg, Leipzig, Dresden, Teplitz, Freiberg, Weissenfels, Jena, Tennstedt, Grüningen and Arten. A version of the soundtrack has already been produced in German and French and can therefore be broadcast in both countries. The cloud was conceived from the very beginning as a work of art that travels. It appears and disappears in the successive sites of its peregrinations. By extension, the project is scheduled to move to foreign territories, with versions in the languages of the host countries. At each new destination, it is planned to make in-situ recordings of Novalis’s “Fragments” with local people of all ages.