ORTrmx

by Anja Kreysing

This album by sound artist Anja Kreysing remixes sound material used for an audiovisual installation she presented with fellow (visual) artists Thomas Gerhards and Werner Rückemann in August and September 2023. The installation was exhibited in the so-called Oxfordquartier in Münster – and this site was also the subject of the installation.

The quarter was used as military site, the Oxford barracks, by the British army after 1945. In fact, it was built as a military barracks – but by the Nazi Wehrmacht: the British continued to use it after they had liberated the Northwest of Germany at the end of World War II. The architecture of the buildings clearly shows typical Nazi-era style, so the evil idelology of its builders is sort of encoded in the buildings. The installation used pictures and acoustic field recordings from the site to address the history of the buildings. The title of the installation, „Ort ohne Heimweh“ (place without nostalgia) points to the fact that this history must be conserved so as not to forget the lessons learnt from it, but that it must not be glorified. On this album, electronic distortion and processing make the field recordings alien, they allow us a critical distance from any kind of atmospheric 'enjoyment' of ambience, yet they are so sonically powerful that they don't allow us to ignore them. A sonic reminder that the history of fascism is an open wound that we must never allow to close.

File under: electroacoustic

ACU 1063

factory-produced CDr in Digisleeve

Released in 2024

limited to 200 copies

price: 10.00 EUR (excl. postage)

field recordings out of the unsettling rooms of the former Oxford barracks / Flakkaserne in Münster / Germany, manipulated and remixed with recordings from other places, developed out of the psychogeographic field exploration / audiovisual installation "Ort ohne Heimweh" in collaboration with Thomas Gerhards and Werner Rückemann, August/September 2023, Oxford barracks, Münster, Germany

anjakreysing.de
thomasgerhards.de
wernerrueckemann.com

Ort ohne Heimweh Video:
youtu.be/8EyWui1lu34?si=i7Pjg9SfCXLbaj3M

Ort ohne Heimweh Installation:
youtu.be/NCdpKMjBCDM?si=tmjTgGVWgVQjLz76

Also available here: http://www.discogs.com/seller/dependenz?sort=price&sort_order=asc&q=attenuation+circuit&st

Review

VITAL WEEKLY

I reviewed work by Anja Kreysing before from music she did with Dan Penshuck and Sascha Stadlmeier, but now it’s solo time. Or rather, she’s responsible for the music part of an exhibition she did with Thomas Gerhards and Erner Rückemann, and on this release, she uses/remixes that sound material again. The installation was at the Oxford barracks in Münster, used by the British army after 1945, even when the Wehrmacht built it earlier. The installation uses pictures and sounds from the area so we don’t forget and don’t glorify the past. The sounds, however, are not easily traced back to any origin, as they are all highly abstract. Kreysing uses sampling devices and electronic gadgets to alter these sounds so that nothing historical is part of it anymore. In her compositional approach, she reminds me of label boss Stadlmeier’s EMERGE project, who, in turn, took cues from Asmus Tietchens. They are not as delicate as Tietchens, but they have a similar love for using microscopic details from a set of what I can only assume are more significant sounds. We can label this as Reductionist music, which is fine-tuned and cooked into delicate music. Only in ‘ORTrmx4’ do we hear footsteps and a giant drone, taking the musical experience into a different field. I’m afraid only four lovely pieces didn’t satisfy my appetite; it’s only twenty-four minutes, and I think that’s not nearly enough. Isn’t the whole idea of remixing and recycling to work with an endless pool of possibilities? Why stop here? Great album!

https://www.vitalweekly.net/number-1429/

Review

BAD ALCHEMY

Den Leighton Barracks als Würzburger Stützpunkt der US-Streitkräfte von 1945 bis 2008 und ihrer Um­gestaltung in den Stadtteil Hubland und das Cam­pus Nord entspricht in Münster das Oxfordquartier als eines der britischen Kasernenviertel von 1945 bis 1990, das ebenfalls in ein Wohnviertel konver­tiert wird. In beiden Fällen gibt es eine national­sozialistische Vorgeschichte, in Würzburg den Fliegerhorst Würzburg der Reichs-Luftwaffe, in Münster ebenfalls die Kennern noch sichtbare Wehrmachtsarchitektur der Flakartillerie-Kaserne. Auf ORTrmx (ACU 1063) erklingt der akustische Part der multimedialen Installation 'Ort ohne Heim­weh', ANJA KREYSINGs Verfremdung von örtlichen und mit psychogeographischer Sensibilität imprä­gnierten Feldaufnahmen durch Processing. Nicht um denen Kraft und Freude zu spenden, denen die Gnade der späten Geburt zuteil wurde. Sondern um Auge und Ohr zu schärfen und die Immunabwehr zu stärken gegen den latenten Virus grausiger Gedan­ken und falscher Gefühle in einer Zeit, in der kaum noch jemand Nazi-Kitsch von anderm Kitsch unter­scheiden oder eine historische Funktionalität er­kennen kann, so ganz ohne Hakenkreuzchen. 'Da­mals' waren Studenten die Avantgarde der Bücher­verbrennung und Menschenschinderei, heute tau­chen sie wieder ihre unschuldigen Hände in Juden­blut. Es braucht also nicht einmal einen neuen 'Feind', der alte Sündenbock tut's weiterhin. Krey­sing, die, mit einer Vorgeschichte als Resonator mit Kai Niggemann (heute bei The Dorf) und ihrer Mit­arbeit bei auf abwegen, ihre Klangkunst in Münster mit Deep Listening unterfüttert, spielt mit metalle­nem Klingklang und dröhnenden, rieselnden, ru­morenden, tröpfelig 'zwitschernden', ständig chan­gierenden Klängen. Der vierte Part hallt wider von Schritten und einem dunklen Tuten und Zerren. 105 Jahre Faschismus, und die meisten erkennen ihn nicht mal wenn er sie beißt – oder küsst.

www.badalchemy.de

Anja Kreysing ORTrmx cover front
Anja Kreysing ORTrmx cover back
Anja Kreysing ORTrmx InlayAnja Kreysing ORTrmx Inlay
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