On June 7, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), the Vienna based foundation
for contemporary art founded by Francesca von Habsburg, will inaugurate The Morning
Line—its most ambitious public art project to date. A four-day Festival for Contemporary
Music Composition featuring 27 sound artists and nine new compositions, specially
conceived for the pavilion's sonic architecture, will kick off The Morning Line's
six months residency on Schwarzenbergplatz.
Conceived by the New York based artist
Matthew Ritchie as an inherently collaborative structure, The Morning Line is an
interdisciplinary platform where artists, architects, engineers, physicists, sound
designers and musicians each contribute their own specialized information to create
a new form: a mutable structure, with multiple expressions and narratives intertwining
in its physical structure, projected video and innovative spatialized sound environments.
Ritchie teamed up with design innovators Aranda/Lasch, the Music Research Centre
of York University and Arup AGU to create the next leap in a fully programmable three-dimensional
sound space. Based on advances in research on crystalline structures, parametric
design and fractal construction units, The Morning Line is a fully scalable space;
its innovative structure can adopt every configuration, it is transportable from
site to site and acts as a performance space.
Following its inaugural presentation at the 3rd Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville,
Spain, curated by Peter Weibel in 2009, and its subsequent exhibition at Eminönü
Square, one of Istanbul's busiest public spaces, as part of Istanbul 2010 – European
Capital of Culture, The Morning Line continues its journey around the world. T-B
A21 is proud to present The Morning Line in Vienna, the home of the foundation. The
city's significance as one of the world's centers for music and performance will
lend a special emphasis to the project's music programming.
As The Morning Line continues
to travel the world as a platform for contemporary music, and within its mandate
to encourage and support the production of innovative composition wherever it tours,
T-B A21 has appointed the internationally renowned, Austrian musician and sound artist
Franz Pomassl to act as a guest curator for the project's presentation in Vienna.
New sonic works by Alexej Borisov (Russia), Christian Fennesz (Austria), Tommi Grönlund
& Petteri Nisunen (Finland), Carsten Nicolai (Germany), Zsolt Olejnik (Hungary),
Finnbogi Petursson (Iceland), Terre Thaemlitz (USA), Zavoloka (Ukraine) and Franz
Pomassl will be premiered over the first few days of the festival. They will supplement
the existing archive of 17 music and soundscape pieces selected by guest curators
Florian Hecker, Bryce Dessner, Russell Haswell and ITU-MIAM/Istanbul.
Installation 7 June - 20 November 2011. Schwarzenberplatz - Vienna (Austria).
