Paul DeMarinis
«The Edison Effect»

The installation ensemble, «The Edison Effect» connects the Ages of Mechanical, Electronic, and Digital Audio-Technologies. Different interactive systems probe the acoustic inscriptions of vinyl discs, and other objects, with the help of laser beams (which officially serve CD technology). DeMarinis also assigns to them, in part, the sounds of other audio devices. Along these lines, DeMarinis combines in «March» the vinyl disc recording of a military march by John Philipp Sousa with the typical, techno-instrument, TR-808, an electronic rhythm-producing machine. «Etaion Shrdlu» makes it possible to hear how an Edison phonograph inevitably inscribes the sounds of its own machinery into the waltz. Two «Fragments from Jericho» masquerade as thousand-year-old finds of sound cylinders and release unexpected sounds from archaic times. Removed from their customary functionality, the technologies applied in the works of DeMarinis reveal a hidden, mystical character.

Golo Föllmer