Spiral Space (Varying the Spiral Space through varying the walking speed), 1976

Basel 2015
Spiral Space (Varying the Spiral Space through varying the walking speed)

Georg Kargl Fine Arts

Bernhard Leitner Spiral Space (Varying the Spiral Space through varying the walking speed), 1976 Acryl glass, adhesive film base: 142 x 16,5 x 92 cm; acryl glass: 55 x 16,5 x 92 cm Bernhard Leitner (born 1938)  is internationally deemed to be a pioneer of sound and space art, and is today one of the most prominent, internationally recognized artists in the area of time-based plastic arts. Stemming from his interest in architecture, music and dance he already developed at the end of the 1960s his first sound-space sculpture, a sound architecture being fed by several channels. Leitner's sculptures let the beholder experience in a physical way the characteristics of space over an acoustic encounter. Formally Leitner's works deliberately take up on the aesthetics of American minimalism. The model exemplifies Leitner's studies and explorations from the mid 1970s for a spiral space, in which at equal distances the tone circles move across towards the adjusted tone tubes. The acoustic spiral space develops at walking pace: a narrower, hearing space rotating in a forward direction at slower walking pace, a stretched space of curved tone lines at a faster pace. Selected exhibitions include: PS 1, NYC (1979), documenta 7, Kassel (1982), Ars electronica (1982), Venice Biennial, (1986), Academy of Arts Berlin (1996), Nationalgalerie Berlin (1999), Kunsthalle Bremen (2000), Donaueschinger Musiktage (1997, 2003, 2009), Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, (2008), Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna (2011), Tallin Art Hall (2011), Sound Art, ZKM, Karlsruhe (2012), New York Universities at 80 WSE gallery (2013), TU Berlin (1984, 2014), Fondazione Prada, Venice (2014), Kollegienkirche Salzburg (2015). Bernhard Leitner has also been able to realize numerous sound installations over the last forty years in public space, for example the Agoraphon in front of Hamburg’s Deichtorhallen in 1994, or Cylindre Sonore from 1987 at Paris’ Parc de la Villette (still existent today) or the Strömungen (Streaming) at the orthopedic division, Otto Wagner Hospital, Baumgartner Höhe, Vienna (Felix Pavilion), in 2000.