| Bernhard Gál Wien/Berlin | essay |
Die Grüne Hölle (Green Hell) 2006 Exhibition
Galerie der Österreichischen Botschaft
intermedia installation Technical components: coloured glases, artificial green, sensors, lights, TV-monitors, video projector, headphones, CD-player, loudspeaker, audio systeme. In cooperation with Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin.
intermedia installation Technical components: coloured glases, artificial green, sensors, lights, TV-monitors, video projector, headphones, CD-player, loudspeaker, audio systeme. In cooperation with Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin.
In his installation developed specifically for the gallery of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Berlin, Bernhard Gál relates to a current topic in Germany – the 2006 football World Cup. »The yelling, whistling, singing and clapping of tens of thousands of fans offers a truly symphonic sound experience, whose dynamics and sonic intensity are a dream to the ears of a sound artist.« »The Gleichschaltung of the masses, the channelling of emotions and aggressions and the concomitant ostracism of 'the others', is surely counterproductive, especially today, even in such a seemingly harmless and purely sporting context.»Die Grüne Hölle unifies visual and acoustic elements from the world of football in a large-scale installation. The soundscape of football is in focus, as is Gál's personal artistic statement about the »staged media spectacle of the football World Cup«.
Robert E.M. Achleitner,
born in Vienna in 1971, the composer and artist Bernhard Gál creates
electro-acoustic music as well as compositions for acoustic instruments.
In intermedia art projects and sound installations, he combines sound, light,
objects, video projections, and spatial concepts. Concerts, exhibitions,
lectures and invitations to festivals regularly lead him through Europe
and to Asia and the Americas. He runs the record label Gromoga Records and
is director of the Austrian art organization »sp ce«. Gal lives
and works in Vienna and Berlin where he currently teaches sound art at the
University of Arts. For his music and art projects Gal has received a.o.
the Karl Hofer Prize Berlin 2001, a fellowship from the DAAD Artists in
Berlin Programme 2003, and the Austrian State Scholarship for Composition
2004. In 2005, the German publishing house Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg published
the comprehensive catalogue book »Installations«, documenting
Gál’s intermedia installations since 1999. www.bernhardgal.com
