Peter Ablinger: Nicht Wir / Not Us | exhibition

ExhibitionCella Gallery and Hovorny, Opava

PETER ABLINGER: NICHT WIR / NOT US
Cella Gallery, Matiční 4, Opava
28.6.–15.8.2024

The opening will take place on Friday, June 28 at 5:00 PM at Cella Gallery.

Curator: Jakub Frank

The exhibition of Peter Ablinger, an Austrian composer and sound artist living in Berlin, will be the third in a series of exhibitions dedicated to leading European sound artists who have shaped the medium of sound in a gallery environment.

Peter Ablinger’s artworks will be presented in the Czech Republic for the first time at a solo exhibition. In the spaces of Cella Gallery, works from the Weiss/Weisslich series, dedicated to the deep exploration of white noise, which Ablinger has been developing since 1980, will be exhibited. The installation 12 Kassettenrekorder (12 tape recorders), accompanied by instructions for its operation, will be inaugurated with a performance at the exhibition’s opening. It will be complemented by a series of objects Kopfhörer (Headphones), Schneckengehäuse (Snail Shell), and Rauschempfänger (World Receiver), in which Ablinger guides the visitor to sharpen their listening and tune their auditory apparatus.

One of Ablinger’s newest installations, Nicht Wir (Not Us), which will be presented at the exhibition, utilizes the effect of resonance and feedback occurring in a closed circuit. Nicht Wir thus becomes an independent entity that sounds without the need for external input, reflecting only the acoustic properties of its surroundings. “Sometimes, when we get too close to the installation, it decides to go silent on its own and starts sounding again once we move away.”

The exhibition was financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Statutory City of Opava, and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague.