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Sound Art Brighton: Bernhard Leitner - Headscapes / Kopfräume

Over five decades the sound art pioneer Bernhard Leitner has explored the way sound moves through physical space – indoors and out.

In his work-collection Kopfräume / Headscapes, he applies this expertise to the interior of the listener’s head. First conceived in 1987, Leitner has added new pieces to this collection over the years and Sound Art Brighton is now proud to present the latest addition to this unusual creation.

Headscapes are sound works specifically created for the interior of the head and they can only be experienced with open earphones. Here the head is conceived as a hollow volume, a globe-like receptacle for time-based acoustic-geometric spaces. We are enabled to sense and hear motion within the resonant inner space of the skull.

Figures of sounds moving through the interior of our heads allow us to experience some unique in-head localisation and to contemplate inner space – however unfathomable that may be.

Bernhard Leitner

The Austrian sound art pioneer, Bernhard Leitner, is a leading practitioner in his field.

Trained as an architect in Vienna, his first experiments in sound-space and sound-space-objects were conducted in the late 1960s, in New York. For over five decades since, he has created a vast body of ground-breaking works relating sound to physical space and the human body. His sound installations, sound sculptures and sound objects have featured in major festivals, including Sonambiente in Berlin, Documenta in Kassel, Ars Electronica in Linz and the Venice Biennale. His permanent site-specific outdoor and indoor installations can be visited in Paris, Vienna and Berlin. He is the author of seminal texts on sound architecture, promoting a greater understanding of spatial and corporeal sound art. Substantial publications are dedicated to his work and he is celebrated for his rescue and preservation of the Wittgenstein House in Vienna.

https://www.bernhardleitner.at/en