Lecture Performance

From Hearing and Seeing: A Lecture Performance on Projection as Aesthetic Phenomenon

An audiovisual lecture performance exploring the intersection of theoretical discourse and live media art, presented as part of the Pianissimo concert series by the Cologne Society for New Music. The performance investigates the historical and conceptual foundations of projection as both technical process and aesthetic metaphor.

Concept

This lecture performance examines the relationship between light and sound through the lens of projection, tracing a lineage from Athanasius Kircher’s Camera Obscura to Ernst Chladni’s sound figures. The work explores how both optical and acoustic phenomena reveal hidden structures of perception, making the invisible visible and the inaudible audible.

The performance creates a space where the boundaries between senses dissolve—where light is not only seen but conceived, where sound is not only heard but shaped. Through live demonstration and theoretical discourse, the work investigates projection as an active gesture that frames, creates, and transforms reality.

Historical Framework

Drawing connections between Kircher’s understanding of the Camera Obscura as a “machine of revelation” and Chladni’s discovery of acoustic patterns in sand, the performance positions projection not merely as a technical tool, but as a fundamental mode of human perception and knowledge creation. Both historical figures recognized that projection mediates between the hidden and the manifest, giving form to the formless.

Performance Structure

The lecture unfolds as a poetic meditation on perception, combining spoken text, live video projection, and acoustic demonstrations. The audience is invited into a space of shadows and vibrations, where seeing becomes hearing, and projection reveals itself as narrative—a way of thinking, feeling, and being.

https://klassik-koeln.de/de_DE/konzertkalender/pianissimo-vom-hoeren-und-sehen.17823810

Ich lade Sie ein,
in einen Raum zu treten.
…
Einen Raum aus Schatten,
aus Licht,
aus Schwingungen.
…
Ein Raum,
wo das Licht
nicht nur gesehen,
sondern erdacht wird.
…
Wo der Klang
nicht nur gehört,
sondern geformt wird.
…
Ein Raum,
wo die Grenzen
zwischen den Sinnen
verschwimmen,
…
und das Unsichtbare
sichtbar wird.