PORTAL PHONOCENE is a site-conditioned sound work for the TONSPUR_passage in the Museumsquartier. Part of the ongoing series PHONOCENE ~ SPECTRAL AFFECTS, it invites listeners to attune to the vitality of non-human voices and sonic expressions. The work unfolds as a series of soundspaces woven from sound materials gathered in biodiverse Amazonian territories, reconfigured and expanded through spectral transformations.
The composition is guided by the spectral coexistence of life in densely layered ecosystems, where species distribute their voices to sustain sonic communication and balance. This principle, known as the acoustic niche hypothesis, suggests that different organisms organise their vocalisations to avoid masking each other. The spectrograms exhibited in the passage visualise these co-existing sonic patterns, drawn from original recordings and focused details, revealing the intricate interplay of a multispecies sonic ecology.
>> read more
PORTAL PHONOCENE • 8-channel soundwork, 7-part series of A1 images • duration 60’00” (∞) • concept, recordings, composition, A1 images Pablo Sanz • production support Mamirauá Institute (Tefé, Amazonas), Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Sound and Music (SARC, Queen’s University Belfast), Laboratory of Acoustics and Sonic Arts (LASom), Instituto de Artes, UNICAMP (Campinas, São Paulo), Santander Universities UK, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and Etopia Center for Art and Technology (Zaragoza) • personal support Silvia Jánošková, Maria Cecília Gomes, and all those from Tefé and the riverine communities of Baré, Boa Esperança, Jarauá, and Horizonte, whose support and hands-on assistance made the fieldwork possible within the Amanã and Mamirauá territories in Amazônia • With deep gratitude to the multitude of non-human beings whose expressions contribute to the making of this work, acknowledged as co-creators • installation set up Peter Szely • production TONSPUR Kunstverein Wien • artistic director Georg Weckwerth • special thanks Jacob Eriksen, Palma E. Christian
TONSPUR_passage | Micro Museum for Sound • MQ Wien
24 FEB – 3 May 2025
daily 10am—8pm
preview Sun FEB 23 • 5pm
Opening words: Jacob Eriksen
![TONSPUR_display #12 • Juliana Herrero • Pequeño Concierto [Hörkabinett]](https://tonspur.at/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/postcard_T_display_12_Juliana_Herrero_web-2048x1456.png)
Unusual times require unusual measures.
To support our artists, we are launching this new series:
TONSPUR_live sets in times of COVID-19
The artists play a set via video live stream on the TONSPUR facebook page and answer your questions.
Panorama © Kai-Uwe Rosseburg, TONSPUR Jingle by Szely
TONSPUR for a public space
Tonspur (literally soundtrack) is a classical German term used in talking about visual and acoustic media, it is also the title of a truly unique project situated since 2003 in the Museumsquartier Wien as well as a temporary presence at other international locations.
The white cube is to the visual arts what urban public space is for sound art — that crossover between fine art, media art and music. The TONSPUR_passage in the Museumsquartier Wien (since 2006) or, venue for a while, Schlossplatz in the centre of Berlin (2009–2012), or the passage at the old Town Hall in Maribor in Slovenia (2016–2020) are just such public spaces. These locations are regularly passed as people traverse town, or during their exploratory forays through the metropolises. Artists from all disciplines and from around the world are developing and realising computer-controlled sound works in the TONSPUR series specially for these transitory locations. Their multi-channel compositions take sound well beyond the usual stereophonic experience, creating captivating acoustic architectures and sound spaces.
But TONSPUR offers more: a varied and interdisciplinary engagement with sound as a sculptural and malleable medium in contemporary art is broadened by concerts, sound performances and live streams, lectures and book presentations, workshops and guided tours, the TONSPUR_expanded series of exhibitions, the TONSPUR_library and the TONSPUR_display as well as special projects with art in public space or the TONSPUR_tribute show “Membra Disjecta for John Cage” and, last but not least, international guest appearances with the TONSPUR_collection.
TONSPUR unites artists from various disciplines acoustically while introducing its audience to a broader notion of the reception of art and of art itself. In this sense, TONSPUR für einen öffentlichen raum addresses everybody who encounters the city and art with their eyes and ears open.
Georg Weckwerth
founder, chairman, artistic director
TONSPUR Kunstverein Wien
