Artist: Peter Fengler
Exhibition title: ParBlue – perspective – IKB
Venue: Rib, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Date: September 15 – November 10, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Rib, Rotterdam
In the exhibition ParBlue – perspective – IKB Rotterdam based artist Peter Fengler. (b. 1964/ Culemborg) will debut a new device* which is the outcome of several years of research into the technological possibilities of evoking sounds hidden in mutated audio records and a variety of reassembled materials and objects that give the impression of cultural sludge, such as paint stirring bars, memory foam, aged rubber, scratched plexiglass, hobby paint and so on. The device recalls the architecture of early recording studios and reproduction devices like Edison’s wax roll which he invented in 1877.
This newly developed device is capable of traversing the logic of sound reproduction/amplification by minimising the mediating function of a carrier material, whereby often the precondition for hearing and fidelity is based on the muting of the transmitting matter. By removing the distinction between seeing and hearing it can be described as a microscopic version of google earth, scanning, mining and extracting by visual means (laser), the composition and relief of cultural waste and taste. The exhibition also includes a series of sculptural pieces of mixed media prints, vinyl, and artifacts.
Fengler’s transmedial practice concentrates on the emergent and performative possibilities of (sound)reproduction. The output leads to works such as scores, performances, installations, readings, burlesque shows and publications. Formats that he simultaneously serves and subverts. Thus, for example, he does not perform music but musicalizes performance, in which grim absurdity, ordinary sound, and concrete poetry combine to form a stylised sound collage. Or he approaches vinyl as sculpture, performance as publication, and unconscious associations as a composition technique. He is especially interested in the optic and acoustic qualities of vinyl as well as the untapped potential of its materiality, which he utilizes in his live actions. The work invariably reverberates somewhere between intellectual pursuits and nonsense and expresses a fondness for “ultra-hobbyism”.
Fengler has exhibited and performed at Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Living Arts Museum Reijkjavik, De Vleeshal Middelburg, Mousonturm Frankfurt, CC Strombeek Brussels, Sonic Protest Paris, SMBA Amsterdam, SMAK Gent, MUHKA Antwerp, amongst others. He is also co-founder and artistic chef of DE PLAYER; an interdisciplinairy production and presentation platform for art, sound and performative matters. Fengler his work is represented by Pinkie Bowtie, Antwerp, Belgium.
* The technical development was realized by Erik Postma/EPO4IT, Delft and with the financial support of the Creative Industries Fund NL.
