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The Prix Ars Electronica Archive is a collection enabling search and viewing of all the submissions since 1987. The award-winning projects are documented with catalogue texts and audio-visual media. All other submissions can be searched by title/artist and displayed with year, category in list form. Please cite the credits (artwork name, artist and photographer) and only use the materials if your article is related to Ars Electronica.
Magnetic Flights
Christina Kubisch
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“Magnetic Flights” is entirely composed of electromagnetic field recordings, made at international airports and inside airplanes. All recordings were made with the help of special sensitive wireless headphones, which detected aboveground and underground electromagnetic fields and made them audible. The transmission takes place via electromagnetic induction coils that respond to the electromagnetic waves and fields in our environment.
The piece starts with an electromagnetic sound recorded just before departure and continues with the material of flight radiation recorded inside various airplanes. These electromagnetic fields change pitch slightly during departure and arrival, but remain quite constant during the flight itself. The relatively high and compact sounds gradually build up a dense layer of vibrations with continuous minimal variations.
In the second part, some of the previous flight radiation recordings are gradually filtered. The individual signals merge into a mix of small, short, nervous and very rhythmic signals. Their origin might be radio waves, communication signals with the tower, internet data transfer or atmospheric disturbances, but these are only guesses.
The third part is a mix of electromagnetic “wind” sounds (originating from large neon advertisements) mixed with various other signals in the security areas of airports and the deep vibrations of the monitor screens, which slowly fade in and out. The piece ends with the electrical flickering of an electromagnetic field of unknown origin.
The piece starts with an electromagnetic sound recorded just before departure and continues with the material of flight radiation recorded inside various airplanes. These electromagnetic fields change pitch slightly during departure and arrival, but remain quite constant during the flight itself. The relatively high and compact sounds gradually build up a dense layer of vibrations with continuous minimal variations.
In the second part, some of the previous flight radiation recordings are gradually filtered. The individual signals merge into a mix of small, short, nervous and very rhythmic signals. Their origin might be radio waves, communication signals with the tower, internet data transfer or atmospheric disturbances, but these are only guesses.
The third part is a mix of electromagnetic “wind” sounds (originating from large neon advertisements) mixed with various other signals in the security areas of airports and the deep vibrations of the monitor screens, which slowly fade in and out. The piece ends with the electrical flickering of an electromagnetic field of unknown origin.
Produced and mixed at the Electronic Music Studio of the Technical University Berlin. Mix: Christina Kubisch Audio engineering / final mastering: Eckehard Güther
Christina Kubisch (DE), born 1948, studied painting, music and electronics in Hamburg, Graz, Zürich and Milan, where she graduated. In the 1970s she staged performances, concerts and works with video, and subsequently sound installations, sound sculptures and work with ultra-violet light. She has received numerous grants and awards. She has been visiting professor in Maastricht, Paris and Berlin, and since 1994 she has been a professor for sound art at the Academy of Fine Arts, Saarbrücken, Germany, and a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin since 1997.