Eisen und Stein (2024)
Exploring the sonic environment of an abandoned industrial hall
Performance, voice, objects: Elke Utermöhlen
Audio recording: Martin Slawig
Fotos: Roberta Bergmann – www.robertabergmann.de
Recorded October 26 + 27, 2011 @Kunstmühle Braunschweig
Mixed and mastered by blackhole-factory, Studio Bonaforth, January 2024
Online release at archive.org January 31, 2024:
https://archive.org/details/blackhole-factory_eisenundstein
An abandoned factory building with its surprising acoustics
Some objects and fixtures found:
___an iron plate above a shaft
___radiators
___pipes
___gravel
___a brick
Elke works with the found material in the room and lets the tonality of the objects, the reverberation and the physical tension to influence the voice and inspire various “songs”.
_gravel thrown against walls
___boots on gravel, fast movements
____simultaneous actions on an old industrial radiator, voice
__melody fragments, exploring the possibilities of reverb, polyphony and beats
___boots on a wobbly iron plate
_____rhythms, vibrations, in correspondence with the voice
___a brick is moved on an iron plate, pulled, the voice picks up the resulting sound as a basis for singing
The hall is located directly opposite the Kunstmühle in Braunschweig, where blackhole-factory ran their studio for about 10 years.
The buildings used to belong to MIAG, a mill construction company.
During the Second World War, tanks were produced there.
The hall was part of the loading station on the ‘Ringgleis’, an industrial railroad around Braunschweig
The tracks can still be seen.
