TONSPUR Kunstverein Wien

Website tonspur.at

Photo TONSPUR_passage on top: Kai-Uwe Rosseburg

TONSPUR brings together artists from various disciplines through sound, whilst simultaneously introducing its audience to an expanded concept of art and artistic reception. In this sense, TONSPUR is aimed at a public space for all those who approach the city and art with open eyes and ears.

Tonspur, this classic technical term from the visual and acoustic media, lends its name to the globally unique project—based at the MuseumsQuartier Wien since 2003 but also temporarily presented at other international venues—featuring changing sound works for public spaces.

What the White Cube is to the visual arts, urban public space is to sound art – this cross-disciplinary genre at the intersection of visual art, media art and music. The TONSPUR_passage at the MuseumsQuartier Vienna (since 2006), the passageway in the historic town hall on Maribor’s main square (2016–2020) and the Schloßplatz in the centre of Berlin (2009–2012) are precisely such public spaces. One passes through them automatically on one’s way and during explorations of the metropolises. Specifically for these transitory locations, international artists of all genres develop and realise computer-controlled sound works as part of the TONSPUR series. Their multi-channel compositions, which transcend the usual stereo image, create fascinating sound architectures and walk-in sound spaces.

But TONSPUR offers even more: concerts, sound performances and live streams, lectures and book presentations, workshops and guided tours, the TONSPUR_expanded exhibition series, the TONSPUR_library and the TONSPUR_display, special projects involving art in public spaces, as well as the TONSPUR_tribute show ‘Membra Disjecta for John Cage’ and, last but not least, international guest performances featuring the TONSPUR_collection, all expand the diverse and interdisciplinary exploration of sound as a plastic and malleable material in contemporary art.

Georg Weckwerth

additional websites:

TONSPUR_TRIBUTE TO JOHN CAGE
TONSPUR_EXTRA ∞ EUROPEAN_TONSPUR
TONSPUR_EXPANDED ∞ DER LAUTSPRECHER
TONSPUR_EXPANDED ∞ DER LAUTSPRECHER Dokumentation
TONSPUR_WORKSHOP ∞ VOICES OF WEDDING