Florian Dombois
Since the 1990s, the conceptual and interdisciplinary artistic practice of Florian Dombois (born 1966 in Berlin, Germany) has often addressed the representation of seismological phenomena. Dombois, who studied geophysics, creates art that focuses on models, landforms, seismic and tectonic activity, and scientific and technological fictions. He works in a variety of media and formats: his repertoire includes sound and room-filling installations as well as happenings and performances.
In 2014, Dombois realized a version of his sound project “Angeschlagene Moderne”, which was made specifically for the Museum Haus Konstruktiv. In this work, he expressed doubts concerning the optimism and linear development of modernism. His acoustic exploration of the Constructivist-Concrete and Conceptual heritage of the Museum focused exclusively on objects and sculptures from its collection by artists born before 1960. Keeping conservation standards in mind, Dombois struck the 23 chosen works with a mallet. The natural vibrations of the objects, whose sound spectrum varied according to their materials, was recorded with a contact microphone and then played outside the Museum and in its entrance area. Using a computer program, a random composition of the 23 samples could be heard every fifteen minutes, marking time in measurable units, like the bell of a church clock.
Dombois also created a special annual edition based on this sound installation from 2014, which is specific to this site and collection and of which a copy is owned by the Museum today. The work consist of a 7-inch vinyl record containing the 23 samples of the works from the collection that he struck. It also includes a print of the record on laid paper, produced using intaglio printing technique, as well as an accompanying publication. In “Angeschlagene Moderne,” Dombois thus attempts to establish an alternative view of modernism by changing the perceptual perspective through a shift from the visible to the audible, which was then reversed again in the artist’s edition.
Eliza Lips
In 2014, Dombois realized a version of his sound project “Angeschlagene Moderne”, which was made specifically for the Museum Haus Konstruktiv. In this work, he expressed doubts concerning the optimism and linear development of modernism. His acoustic exploration of the Constructivist-Concrete and Conceptual heritage of the Museum focused exclusively on objects and sculptures from its collection by artists born before 1960. Keeping conservation standards in mind, Dombois struck the 23 chosen works with a mallet. The natural vibrations of the objects, whose sound spectrum varied according to their materials, was recorded with a contact microphone and then played outside the Museum and in its entrance area. Using a computer program, a random composition of the 23 samples could be heard every fifteen minutes, marking time in measurable units, like the bell of a church clock.
Dombois also created a special annual edition based on this sound installation from 2014, which is specific to this site and collection and of which a copy is owned by the Museum today. The work consist of a 7-inch vinyl record containing the 23 samples of the works from the collection that he struck. It also includes a print of the record on laid paper, produced using intaglio printing technique, as well as an accompanying publication. In “Angeschlagene Moderne,” Dombois thus attempts to establish an alternative view of modernism by changing the perceptual perspective through a shift from the visible to the audible, which was then reversed again in the artist’s edition.
Eliza Lips
Works by Florian Dombois
![Angeschlagene Moderne [Struck Modernism]](https://admin.hauskonstruktiv.ch/assets/objects/_1920xAUTO_crop_center-center_none_ns/240671_2023-06-19-183005_wage.jpg?w=10&h=10&q=50)