2009

some velvet morning

Installation, Contemporary 401 gallery, Berlin

Thomas Feuerstein / Peter Szely: SOME VELVET MORNING, 2009. Glas, stainless steel. Diverse lab equipment

Object: Thomas Feuerstein

Sound architecture: Peter Szely
Software: Peter Chiochetti, Daniel Hekl
Scientific consulting: Thomas Seppi

installationsansicht

SOME VELVET MORNING is part of a set of works, in which chemical compounds—„molecular sculptures“—are built and stored in liquids and distillates. The artwork cites an experiment from the 1950s by biochemist Stanley Miller that examined the origin of life as a transformation of inorganic into organic chemistry: Simulating a primordial soup, a mix of water, ammoniac, methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide is heated. Energy in form of electric flashes is subsequently inserted into the ascending vapor. The resulting processes generate essential components of life such as amino acids, which are analyzed with the help of a chromatograph. In contrast to lab practice, the data are not interpreted graphically but acoustically with a synthesizer.

An audio architecture designed by Peter Szely generates sounds from the data stream and transports the “molecular sculptures” into the exhibition space.

Feuerstein’s artistic practice of DAIMONOLOGY scrutinizes on how structures, compounds and complex forms emerge. Since 2004 he has been developing projects, in which the notion of the DAIMON is actualized beyond traditional demonology as a key concept of organizational processes.

SOME VELVET MORNING functions daimonically by modifying existing and shaping new orders. The installation generates associations of the creation of artificial life and refers to questions regarding the formation and storage of information, evolution and emergence.