#082 res·o·nant

Luis Negrón van Grieken contributed a one-minute sound composition to res·o·nant, Mischa Kuball's monumental light and sound installation at the Jewish Museum Berlin's Libeskind-Bau Underground. The installation ran from November 17, 2017 to September 1, 2019, transforming the museum's architectural Voids into an immersive sensory experience.

Composition Concept

The piece utilized IanniX driven by Iannis Xenakis's Metastasis score to control a SuperCollider patch, creating a spherical composition that spiraled through space. The algorithmic system generated sound that directly responded to and mirrored the architectural geometry of Daniel Libeskind's Void spaces—24-meter high vertical rooms that form the conceptual and physical core of the museum.

The spiral motion of the composition created a sonic architecture that matched the physical architecture, transforming Xenakis's graphic score into a three-dimensional sound sculpture that filled the cavernous space.

Technical Approach

• IanniX: Open-source sequencer inspired by Xenakis's UPIC, used to translate the Metastasis score into real-time control data
• SuperCollider: Audio synthesis platform for generating the spherical spatial composition
• Metastasis Score: Xenakis's architectural-musical score as the algorithmic foundation
• Spatial Design: Spherical spiral motion matching the Void architecture

Exhibition Context

res·o·nant was a site-specific installation by German conceptual artist Mischa Kuball exploring "resonance between architecture and skin" across 350 square meters. The installation featured rotating projectors, mirrors, and strobe lights combined with 60-second sound contributions from over 150 musicians, including John Zorn, Roedelius, and numerous experimental artists.

Duration: November 17, 2017 - September 1, 2019 Location: Rafael Roth Gallery, Libeskind-Bau Underground (UG) Venue: Jewish Museum Berlin Support: innogy Foundation for Energy and Society

Architectural Integration

The piece engaged with Daniel Libeskind's architectural Voids—empty vertical spaces that run through the Jewish Museum Berlin, representing absence and memory. By translating Xenakis's architectural approach to composition back into sound that spirals through architectural space, the work created a double resonance: between music and architecture, between absence and presence, between score and space.

The use of Xenakis's Metastasis—itself composed using architectural and mathematical principles—created a conceptual bridge between the composer's vision of music as frozen architecture and Libeskind's architecture as spatial narrative.