Leo Hofmann
Muschelrauschen

Muschelrauschen, 2011
Composition with sound and air, modified headphones
Courtesy the artist
EXTENDED COMPOSITIONS opens here in a wider sense: the tactile, the interface between hearing and feeling. In the piece Muschelrauschen (“Mussel Murmurs”) the virtual listening space of the headphones is expanded with an additional layer. The ear is tickled with both acoustics and air. Thus, as part of a composition the ear remains not only in its primary role as an organ of hearing, but also in its capacity as a tactile surface. The air emissions during speech and breathing are physically palpable. The intimate tactile event of a close whisper at the ear is imitated by a specially developed mechanism.