Karl Katschthaler (Ausgesuchtestenohren)
Of Moods and Beings
In my artistic practice as a sound artist and composer-performer I explore the potential of intersemiotic and experiential translation for sound art and music in two main directions. The first ongoing project is the exploration of the use of intersemiotic and experiential translation for collaborative artistic projects, such as sound art workshops exploring some social and emotional aspects of the covid-19 pandemic and the pandemic related lockdowns or emotionally similarly difficult situations, where it can be hard to talk about the experiences. Instead of translating experiences into verbal language, they are translated into sounds using sound making and recording practices.
The other direction of the exploration aims more directly at intersemiotic translation in the Piercean sense. The “source text” in this case is an artefact or visual art work. The translation process of an artefact into sound and music is multi-layered: Not only the visual qualities of the artefact have to be explored, but also the materiality of the object, its texture and tactile qualities, furthermore, the history of its production and the practices involved. Depending on the artefact one of these qualities can determine the sounds and musical progressions, but also several of them or all of them together.