Christina Kubisch
«Sound Flow Light Source – Forty Pillars and One Room»

The parking garage at Berlin's Potsdamer Platz has a ca. 200-meter-long corridor with two rows of free-standing pillars lining the room on the left and right. The pillars were the load-bearing element of the installation. UV lamps (black light) were attached to each pillar, directly below the ceiling, circling like a frieze. Each of the 40 pillars was wrapped in a spiral of electric cord. The form, density, and direction of the cord wrapping is different on each pillar. The cord is painted with phosphorescent paint that glows green in the dark under the ultraviolet illumination. The cords seem like plants growing from below the ground.

The electric cords are not only a visual element, but, also and primarily, they carry sound. Each 'cord pillar' broadcasts a specific sequence of tones. Common to all is that they are derived from the element water. Bubbling, streaming, drizzling, dripping, flowing tones produce an underground water world, audible with the aid of electromagnetic, cordless induction headphones that permit the visitor to move about freely in the room. Depending on where he stands or moves, he receives different tones, resulting in a completely individual sequence of sounds.

Christina Kubisch