Interactive Sonic & Light Sculptures
April 20, 2006- May 20, 2006
Reception: April 20, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
529 W 20th St
OPENING RECEPTION WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE: 6-8 pm, Thursday April 20
LIVE PERFORMANCE: 3 pm, Saturday April 22
bitforms gallery is pleased to announce Peter Vogel's first New York solo exhibition in over 20 years.
Accompanying the exhibition are two performances by the artist of original compositions using Rhythm of
Shadow, a thirteen-foot sonic sculpture.
Peter Vogel (b. 1937, Germany) is a pioneer in the field of interactive electronic sculpture. He was formally
trained in Physics, but has explored technology's intersection with dance, musical composition and visual art
since the late 1960s. Vogel's minimalist musical compositions share territory with that of Detroit techno,
Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, where variations and increasing complexity result from the addition or negation
of repetitive phrases.
This exhibition highlights new work by Peter Vogel in addition to covering the range of his production since the
early 1970s.
Vogel's interest lies in both interactive and musical structures. His is an active art that encourages viewers to
discover communication structures through repeated interaction. Red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes,
wire, photo cells, bare speakers, resistors and capacitors are the raw materials with which Peter Vogel crafts
audiovisual constellations. The interactive sensitivity of Vogel's constructions utilizes photocells and
microphones that react to spectators, creating an experience of seeing and hearing unique improvisations
triggered by light and shadow. Merging form and function, the delicate electronic circuits in Vogel's artworks
are elegantly arranged. Electronic logic of each sculpture is determined through circuitry, but the reactions
may sometimes feel random because of their sensitive dependence upon the time patterns of input.
The work of Peter Vogel has been collected by public institutions including ZKM, Karlsruhe; the Museum for
Concret Art, Ingolstadt; both the Wakayama Museum of Modern Art and Joshibi Art Museum in Japan, and
Rijksmueum Twenthe in the Netherlands. Vogel has exhibited at the Berlin Academy of Arts; Ars Electronica;
ZKM in Karlsruhe; Musee d'Art Contemporain in Lyon; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Canada; Ruhrland Museum, Essen;
the Goethe-Institute in Uruguay and numerous galleries throughout Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea
and Canada. He has participated in group shows including Scratch Code at bitforms, New York; Escoute in
2004 at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Les Machines Sentimentales there in 1986; and Chance as Principal in
1992 at the Wilhelm Hack Museum of Ludwigshafen, Germany. The last hardcover catalog of his work was
published in 2000 by the Museum for Concret Art, Inglostadt.
Interactive Sonic & Light Sculptures opens Thursday, April 20 at 6 pm with a reception and performance by the
artist, and runs through May 20. Gallery hours are 11 am to 6 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and by
appointment.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show| Location | map | | Address | 529 W 20th St, 2nd Fl New York (Chelsea) NY, 10011 United States | | Phone | 212-366-6939 | | Fax | 212-366-6959 | | Hours | Tue-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-6 | | | |
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